My daughter Gabriella showed me this Christmas spinach tree and I didn’t resist. I prepared it this morning and put in freezer for Christmas Eve dinner.
I wrote this paragraph above 4 years ago, when I first posted this recipe in another domain. Since then, I prepared it every year for Christmas.
This Christmas spinach tree is beautiful to see and decorates your table, other than being also an easy finger food appetizer, as each one can pull out the own branch.
I found this lovely idea on the Italian blog: Anna on the Clouds. But in the meanwhile it may have changed name or domain because the link I had doesn’t work anymore. I just wanted you to know from where I had inspiration for this recipe.
I stuffed it with the same spinach and ricotta stuffing used in the sunny spinach pie. Other than being very tasty, it is very easy to manage and allow you to twist the dough easily. I don’t know if it works with other stuffings, it probably do – but take care not to use vegetables that water or don’t form a compact stuffing.
Merry Christmas! May these holidays bring you a lot of joy and happiness with your dear ones.
- 2 sheets of puff pastry
- 1 egg
- for the stuffing:
- 3 + ⅔ cups/400 g of boiled spinach
- 1 + ⅓ (abundant)/350 g of ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 100 g of grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana cheese
- salt
- pepper
- Clean and boil the spinach.
- When done, drain and squeeze them as soon as they have cooled down.
- Chop the spinach and put together with ricotta, egg, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix until well combined.
- Open the first puff pastry sheet.
- Using a ruler to make it easier, draw the shape of a Christmas tree.
- Put the stuffing inside the shape, leaving a 0.5in border.
- Compact it using your hands.
- Gently lean the second sheet of puff pastry and, using your fingers, make it adhere along the stuffing, and, pressing with your fingers to help it adhere with the 1st sheet.
- Using a knife or a pizza cutter, eliminate the puff pastry you don’t need.
- From these pieces, using a star cookie cutter, prepare some stars to apply on the tree.
- Using a sharp knife cut the branches, width just like a finger.
- Carefully lift a branch at a time and twist it on itself. Repeat with all branches.
- Lightly beat an egg and, using a kitchen brush, brush all the tree. Add the stars and brush them too.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden.
- Merry Christmas and buon appetito!
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