Puff pastry Christmas star with ham and cheese, a tasty and theatrical appetizer and an edible Christmas centerpiece that will amaze your guests! Yes, because the puff pastry Christmas star is an elegant appetizer to impress — colorful and joyful on the table. I love Christmas decorations; they make me happy, and I also love edible Christmas decorations, the kind that disappear in no time and fill the house with delicious aromas. Among all holiday decorations, the star best represents Christmas for me, and besides decorating the house with stars, I decorate my table too, creating tasty recipes like the Sandwich Star – Christmas Appetizer and the puff pastry star with ham and cheese, a delicious and eye-catching wreath, perfect as a Christmas or New Year’s centerpiece appetizer.

The puff pastry Christmas star is basically an easy rustic tart that requires very few ingredients: puff pastry is the star, but you can choose the filling. I chose spreadable cheese, olives, cherry tomatoes, ham and mozzarella, but you can choose many other fillings, such as sautéed mushrooms and cheese, sun-dried tomato and olive pâté, broccoli and walnut pesto, etc…

Let’s go to the kitchen and see how to make our theatrical and tasty puff pastry star, but first a reminder: if you want to stay updated on new recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.

Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Inexpensive
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: 8
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Christmas

Tools

Baking tray
Knife
Oven

Steps to make the Puff Pastry Christmas Star

Unroll the puff pastry keeping the baking paper underneath. Spread the cheese over the entire surface and sprinkle with black pepper. Using a sharp pointed knife and starting from the outside, make 8 cuts like rays or wedges that do not reach the center of the disk, but stop before it at about 1 9/16 in (1.57 in) from the center.
Place one or two pitted olives at the base of each wedge (the rounded part), a small piece of cheese and a piece of ham.
Take the two flaps at the base of the wedge and fold them over the filling, covering it completely and sealing the edges with a little pressure. This will form the first point of the star.
Proceed the same way for all the other points.
Now, starting from the center of the pastry, make another 8 cuts toward the star points, but stop about 3/4 in (0.79 in) from the base.
Place a small piece of cheese at the base of each new small wedge obtained and, lifting the tip of the pastry, cover it. Continue in the same way for all the other small wedges.
Fill the free spaces with cherry tomatoes, sprinkle each tomato with salt, oregano and a pinch of sugar. Brush the surface of the pastry with beaten egg, sprinkle with seeds and, using the baking paper, move the star onto the baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated fan oven at 392°F for about 15-20 minutes, extending the time slightly if using a conventional oven. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a serving plate.
Our beautiful puff pastry Christmas star is ready to bring to the table, but to make it even more theatrical, decorate it by adding arugula, cherry tomatoes, olives, cheese and whatever else your imagination suggests in the center.
The puff pastry star can be enjoyed hot or at room temperature; naturally it’s a bit better hot. You can store leftovers in the fridge for 1 or 2 days and reheat as needed, but it will never be as good as freshly baked. If you need to organize ahead, you can assemble it, cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for 24 hours, then brush and bake it just before serving, and finally add the ingredients to finish the center.