Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree you look sooo tasty!

Many of you probably saw videos of this beauty all over Facebook and I decided to actually try it out. I’m not going to lie, mine doesn’t look exactly like the pictures, but does anything ever look the same in pictures?

Ingredients

• 2 sheets puff pastry*
• 2 tbsp Nutella, plus extra
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• Cinnamon sugar
  • About 1 tbsp sugar with 1/4 tsp cinnamon

*Note: The puff pastry should be taken out of the freezer about 20 minutes before you plan to make it so it can thaw slightly, but not completely! I used the Pepperidge Farms Frozen Puff Pastry Sheet which comes with 2 sheets per box, so only one box is needed per tree.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Lay the two pastry sheets on top of each other with their creased sides facing each other.
   • If your puff pastry sheets have no creases, then just lay them on top of each other. When unfolding mine from the box there were slight creases in it.
3. With the two sheets aligned on top of each other, cut the pastry into a Christmas tree shape.
   • You can make the top of the tree flat, rather than pointed since you will be placing a star there anyways.
   • You can cut the bottom as well to make a tree stump, but you can skip that if you’d like.
4. Take the sheets off of each other and cover one of them in nutella.
   • This step may require more than 2 tbsp of Nutella, just use as much as you need for the tree to be completely coated, leaving only a slight edge.
5. Place the other sheet back on top, crease side facing in. Make sure they are aligned perfectly.
6. Starting at the bottom, make about 1/2 inch slits going up the sides of the tree, making sure to leave a solid strip down the center of the tree.
   • Leave about 1 inch at the top of the tree so you have room to place the star.
7. Twist each strip two or three times.
   • As you move up the tree, you may only be able to twist them once and that’s fine.
8. With the excess puff pastry, layer two sheets and cut out a star for the top of the tree. Place Nutella between them, just as you did with the tree.
9. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk with a little water and brush it all over the tree and star.
   • I placed a little of the egg wash on the top of the tree then placed the star and then cover that with the wash.
10. Bake the tree for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through. Your star may begin to puff up, but you can fix it’s placement when it first comes out of the oven and the Nutella is still warm.
    • I just grabbed the top portion of the star and repositioned how it was sitting on the Nutella right when it came out.
11. Allow the tree to cool for 5 minutes on the pan before brushing a coat of melted butter on it and sprinkling it with cinnamon sugar.
12. Serve warm and with extra Nutella for dipping.

This Christmas tree will definitely bring some joy to your Christmas festivities; you don’t even have to put presents under it to make people happy! If you’re not a huge Nutella fan, try it out with some other nut spreads!

Happy Baking and Happy Holidays!