The Savory Christmas Tree Baskets are a clever, delicious, and very easy-to-make recipe, a simple, tasty, visually appealing, and incredibly delicious Christmas appetizer that will surely impress your guests. I wanted to make puff pastry baskets filled with ingredients, I had some ricotta and spinach to use up, so I thought of using these two ingredients to make creamy little trees. So good! The Christmas tree baskets are prepared in a short time and you can also make them the day before, but don’t fill them, they are crispy with a creamy filling. Bring them to your holiday tables, they will be a big hit with the kids too, and are perfect as edible place cards!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 12 savory Christmas tree baskets
- Cooking methods: Oven, Stove, Electric Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Winter
Ingredients
- 18 oz spinach
- 18 oz ricotta
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sheet puff pastry (rectangular)
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper
- to taste nutmeg
- to taste cheese (for making stars)
- to taste grated Parmesan cheese (for decoration)
Steps
Savory Christmas tree baskets are very simple and quick to prepare. First, make the puff pastry baskets: unroll a rectangular puff pastry sheet, prick it with a fork, and cut it into 4 parts horizontally and 3 vertically, obtaining 12 pieces.
Place each piece of pastry inside a muffin cup, arranging the edges so they don’t come out of the mold (I use silicone ones, you can find them HERE, so it’s safe that the pastry doesn’t stick).
Take the parchment paper from the pastry and cut 12 pieces, then place them on top of the dough and add ceramic baking balls (I have THESE, they are very useful for tarts, fruit tarts, and similar pastries, alternatively, you can use chickpeas or beans, which you won’t be able to consume later), this way the baskets will hold their shape perfectly.
Bake the baskets in a preheated oven at 392°F for 15-10 minutes.
Pour the oil into a pan and brown the chopped garlic clove, add the cleaned and dried spinach, salt them, and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often.
Once cooked, squeeze the spinach well and place them in a bowl, chop them with kitchen scissors and add the grated Parmesan, the (well-drained) ricotta, black pepper, nutmeg, and mix all the ingredients well, the mixture should be quite soft and homogeneous, transfer it to a piping bag without a tip or with a medium round tip.
After unmolding and completely cooling the baskets, fill them with the ricotta and spinach filling, creating a little tree. Add a sprinkle of grated Parmesan on top (to simulate the “snow” on the trees). Create the topper by cutting out, with a small star-shaped cutter, pieces of the hard cheese of your choice (scamorza, provolone, asiago, caciocavallo, primosale).
Notes:
Savory Christmas tree baskets can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days. To make them even more delicious, you can add small pieces of cooked ham or speck. You can also prepare them the day before; however, I recommend preparing both the ricotta and spinach cream (stored in the fridge) and the puff pastry baskets (and sealing them in an airtight bag after they have cooled) and fill them just before serving, so they will be as good and crisp as freshly made.
More Christmas appetizers recipes HERE
More Christmas appetizers recipes HERE
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