These festive and fun puff pastry holiday trees pesto & marinara canapé duo are the perfect tasty tidbits for any holiday party or gathering. With so many options for variations, these appetizers are great for the kiddos as well as those sitting at the adult table!
Author:
lollygag
Ingredients
1 Pack of 2 rolls of puff pastry ( we used Trader Joe’s)
4-8 slices of Prosciutto- torn into small pieces (optional)
Pepperoni or ham slices: cut into small pieces (optional)
Garnish
5-6 Slices of cheddar cheese- either white cheddar or classic
Other Items You will Need
16-18 long bamboo skewers-thinner ones work best-see notes
Parchment paper or silicone baking mats
Directions
Thaw out your pastry dough as directed on box.
When your dough is ready to be used, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Start with one pastry sheet at a time, keeping the other one sealed until ready so that it doesn’t dry out.
On a well floured surface, roll out your pastry dough until tin and about 11” x15” in size.
Next, spread the marinara sauce in a thin coat over the pastry dough.
Then sprinkle with a bit of mozzarella cheese (not too much.)
Using a pizza cutter or pastry knife, cut the pastry dough into long strips about 1.5 inches wide. You should get about 8 strips.
Next, place the bits of meat along each strip if desired or you can do half with and half without.
Start forming your trees by gently pulling as you fold your pastry dough strips into the shape of a tree making your folds smaller as you fold to the top of the strips.
Then pierce the tree with your skewer and place them onto your large lined baking sheets, staggering them to give them enough room to puff up in the oven.
Place them into the oven to cook for about 12 minutes. (Add another 1-2 minutes if they are not golden brown yet.)
While your tress are baking you can start on your second sheet.
Repeat process of rolling out your second pastry dough on a floured clean surface.
Layer with Pesto sauce this time and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
Repeat cutting into long strips and layering with Prosciutto bits if desired and fold your strips into trees.
Place them on a second lined baking sheet, at this point the first batch should be about done baking.
Remove the baked ones from the oven to let cool on the counter and place the second tray in the oven to bake again for 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven when the pesto tress are finished baking to cool.
Assembly
Once the trees are cool, start making your stars.
Using the mini star cutters, cut as many stars out of your cheese slices as you need. This works best if the cheese is well chilled.
Next take each tree and carefully place the stars at the tip of your trees skewer and place them on your serving tray of choice.
Serve warm or room temperature.
Recipe Note
For Type of Skewers: make sure they are as thin as you can find as the fat diameter ones will crack your cheese stars.
• You can make these ahead of time and save the addition of cheese stars for right before serving.
Warm them on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees F. for about 5 minutes, then add your stars and serve.
• You can vary your flavors with different sauces such as ham and Béchamel sauce or try pancetta and Gruyère cheese.
• If you would like to make the pesto fresh yourself, you can do so very quickly- Pesto Alla Genovese
