Puff pastry makes a Flaky Nutella Tree Pastry, suitable for Christmas time or any time of the year you want to delight your breakfast or brunch guests by offering a sweet, tree-shaped treat.
If you’ve been around here, you know how much I love tree-shaped foods [1], and even a tree-shaped meat and cheese platter [2]. They are just delightful on a winter holiday table (and while you’re at it, fold your napkin like a tree, too! [3]). But in truth, they can be served any time of year. When are trees not in style?
So today I bring you a Tree-Shaped Flaky Nutella Pastry. That’s right, we’re going to grab a box of prepared frozen puff pastry, and we’re going to stuff it with Nutella in the middle and tree-ify it. Four ingredients, bake and serve…tra la!
What’s not to like?
If you bring this to a December breakfast or brunch, you’ll be a legend. Prepare to take a bow.
Puff pastry makes an easy Flaky Nutella Tree Pastry, suitable for Christmas time or any time of the year you want to delight your breakfast or brunch guests by offering a sweet, tree-shaped treat.
Ingredients
- Tree
- 2 sheets puff pastry
- 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread
- 1 egg yolk
- .
- To Decorate
- 1 bag Skittles
- 1 bag small Dragibus® candies (or use M&Ms, or Dots, or whatever you like)
- 1 star-shaped candy
Directions
- Heat the oven to 350°F degrees. Spread out both sheets of puff pastries on a working surface and cut them in the shape of identical Christmas trees (1 big triangle over a small rectangle).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer one of the trees to that sheet, then spread with chocolate-hazelnut spread all over. Cover it with the second tree, being careful to align the edges.
- Very delicately and without cutting through the pastry, trace two lines, from the base of the trunk up to the top of the tree. These are your trunk guidelines.
- Using a knife, slice branches about 1/3-inch thick on each side of the tree, leaving the center trunk uncut.
- Twist the branches back on themselves, all in the same direction.
- Use a pastry brush to brush the entire tree with egg yolk; this will give it a shiny exterior. Bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let the tree cool, then transfer it on a serving plate. Decorate the tree with colorful candies to be the lights, and then add a star-shaped candy at the top.
Notes
Recipe source: Recipe excerpt from "Cakes for Kids" by Juliette Lalbaltry. Photograph by Delphine Constantini. Reprinted by permission of Gibbs Smith.
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The cookbook
[6] This wonderful, easy recipe is from a new cookbook that would make a nice gift this holiday season. It’s called “Cakes for Kids: 40 Easy Recipes That Will Wow! [6]” by Juliette Lalbaltry (Gibbs Smith; $16.99; affiliate link). The author set out to create cakes that were childlike, sweet and full of wonder, imaging the greatest dreams and fantasies of children. She guides young cake-makers with four foolproof basic cakes, and gives them decorating ideas for fanciful fun, like The Squinting Spider, The Adorable Hedgehog, Flying Saucers in Space…heck, I wouldn’t mind these as MY birthday cakes! It’s a fun book for a young, aspiring baker, or an older baker who would like to inspire a younger one!
Disclosure: The publisher sent a copy of the cookbook for review.