Pistachio and Matcha Puff Pastry Christmas Tree Recipe

I'll admit that I got caught up in this year's puff pastry Christmas tree mania, but I couldn't help but make it a matcha puff pastry Christmas tree. And pistachio, because my love of both green foods is a strong one.

Absolutely everyone and their dog has been making these puff pastry Christmas trees this year, although I first saw these things cropping up on Pinterest as early as 2015, in both sweet and savoury form. I'd love to know who first came up with it but despite my searches, I couldn't find the original creator of them (I have a sneaking suspicion it's one of those things that was found in an old cookery book that someone then posted online before going viral).

In any case, it's a fantastic idea for an easy but impressive Christmas table sharer dish. All it is is two sheets of ready-made puff pastry sandwiched together with matcha white chocolate, sprinkled with pistachios and then baked. The twisted 'branches' of the puff pastry tree are perfect for pulling off one by one.

I've suggested you use raw slivered pistachios as they end up being roasted until just right, but shop-bought roasted pistachios work too – they'll just be more 'well done'.

You can also watch me make this on my YouTube channel:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients:

100g white chocolate (buttons, chips or chopped)
2 tsp matcha, sifted
2 packs of ready-rolled puff pastry (may need to leave it out of the fridge for 10 minutes before using to soften, check the instructions on your pack)
1 egg
Splash of milk
A sprinkling of raw slivered pistachios

To Decorate:

Edible gold spray
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp matcha
1 tsp water (approx.)
Berries
Rainbow chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, and line a large baking tray with nonstick baking paper.

2. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl – either in short bursts in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat and stir in the matcha until well-combined.

3. Unroll one pack of puff pastry straight onto your prepared baking tray, peeling away the paper it comes rolled in.

4. Evenly spread the matcha chocolate onto the surface of the pastry, keeping the chocolate within the boundaries of the baking tray rather than going right to the edges of the pastry.

5. Unroll the second roll of pastry, sticking it straight on top and removing its paper too.

6. Using a sharp knife, cut a large Christmas tree shape out of the pastry, making it as big as the baking tray will allow. Set the extra pastry aside, leaving just the Christmas tree shape on the tray.

7. Cut strips on either side of the 'triangle' part of your tree, but don't go all the way through from one side of the other of the triangle – make sure you leave a column up the centre of the tree (from the trunk to the star) uncut. Then twist each strip upwards, so you can see swirls of matcha chocolate peeking through for each 'branch'.

8. Cut a little star out of the excess pastry, and stick it at the top of your tree (you might want to cut the little triangle bit off the top of the tree so it doesn't stick out too much). Keep the excess pastry to bake up as ugly but tasty scraps.

9. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with the milk until well combined. Brush the egg wash lightly over your puff pastry Christmas tree, being careful not to smudge the chocolate on the branches too much.

10. Sprinkle over your pistachio slivers, adding as much or as little as you like, and bake your pastry tree for 15–20 minutes, or until golden and puffy. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

11. Spray the star with a little edible gold spray. To make the icing, stir the icing sugar, matcha and water together until smooth (feel free to add a drop or two more water if you like your icing runnier). Once your puff pastry Christmas tree is cool, drizzle over the icing, and stick on some berries and chocolate sprinkles to your liking. Then serve straight away.

Enjoy, and have fun.