My motto about cooking is that I don’t do it much, but when I do, it’s something I saw on Pinterest.

We throw a big holiday party every year. Last year, I introduced these puff pastry Christmas trees, and they’ve become a hit and a staple of the party. I got the idea from seeing a puff pastry Christmas tree with pesto, and I adapted it with cheese and veggies.

I’ve got instructions with details below, and you can print a Gruyere-Broccolini Puff Pastry Christmas Trees.

Ingredients:

• Sheet of puff pastry
• Shredded cheese – I used Trader Joe’s shredded Gruyere
• Green vegetable – I used broccolini
• Garlic, salt, pepper
• Egg for glazing

Instructions:

Roll out your pastry dough on a sheet of parchment and arrange a layer of cheese in the center in the shape of of Christmas tree

Wash and roughly chop the broccolini. Combine with garlic, salt, and pepper. Distribute over the cheese. Add more cheese on top of then broccolini.

Cut out the pastry, so that the two leftover triangles, when joined, are approximately the same size as the tree

Lay the pieces of pastry over the cheese and broccolini to to create the top layer of the pastry

Use a pizza cutter to cut horizontal branches along both sides of the tree, leaving 1-2″ uncut down the center

Twist the “branches” of the tree. It will look messy, but don’t worry – it all comes together when it bakes!

Beat the egg and brush it over the top of the tree as a glaze

Bake at the heat recommended for your puff pastry until golden on top, about 15-20 minutes.

Ta-da!

Julie aka “Jewels”