Puff pastry stars Christmas wreath appetizer recipe, a very tasty and scenic centerpiece perfect for the holidays.
Many golden and crispy star vol-au-vents so everyone can pick and enjoy their own little star!
The stars are filled with creamy cheese, salmon, and lumpfish roe, great for whetting the appetite before starting lunch or dinner.
It’s a nice and easy idea to make, you can customize the recipe and get creative by filling the stars with other ingredients of your choice: ham mousse, mortadella, or tuna according to your preferences.
With the same procedure, you can also make vol-au-vents with different shapes, round, tree-shaped, or others beyond the Christmas theme.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 11 pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients for the Puff Pastry Stars Christmas Wreath Appetizer Recipe
- 1 roll puff pastry (rectangular)
- 1 egg (small)
- to taste chopped pistachios
- 50 g cream cheese
- 30 g salmon cream cheese
- 1 slice smoked salmon
- to taste lumpfish roe (caviar substitute)
- sprigs rosemary
Tools
- 1 parchment paper
- 1 Baking tray
- 1 Piping bag
- 1 Pastry cutter star
Steps for the Puff Pastry Stars Christmas Wreath Appetizer Recipe
Take the puff pastry roll with a star-shaped cutter, I used a small one, cut out many stars needed to form the wreath, mine are 33 stars.
Each star is composed of 3 layers, two whole stars and the last one hollowed out, I made 22 whole stars and 11 hollow stars.
To form the wreath, you need a central circle which you can make using a bowl or a small round plate, I used a bowl with a diameter of 4.75 inches, if you prefer, you can make it larger or smaller.
Lay the first layer of stars around the circle, join them together, once the circle is obtained remove the central bowl, brush with a beaten egg and overlap the other round of whole stars, brush again and overlap the last layer of hollow stars which you can make with a nozzle or a cap, join and adjust the points of the stars well, prick the inside with a fork and then sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
Roll out the leftover scraps with a rolling pin and form additional single stars or other shapes.
Once the wreath is ready, bake in a preheated oven at 356°F (fan) for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling, in a bowl combine the two cream cheeses, mix well then cut into small pieces or if you prefer blend the slice of smoked salmon together with the cheese.
Mix the mixture well, transfer the filling into a piping bag with a star nozzle and fill the inside of the stars in the wreath with small dollops of cheese.
Decorate each star with red and black lumpfish roe alternating the colors, place delicately on a serving dish and add many small rosemary sprigs for an extra touch of color and the puff pastry star wreath is ready to serve and enjoy!
You can use the same procedure to prepare vol-au-vents in different shapes, if you prefer the classic round shape just change the cutter and proceed individually for each puff pastry bite, then fill even with salmon rosettes and parsley leaves.
If you prefer more filling, make two hollow circles and a whole base.
The choice is yours according to your tastes!
The puff pastry stars Christmas wreath appetizer recipe or the single filled vol-au-vents are both very beautiful and scenic, the latter are suitable for any buffet, aperitif or appetizer occasion.
Tips and Variants
You can make the vol-au-vents a day ahead and fill them before serving.
You can change the star shape to something else and fill with different cheeses.
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