Christmas Tree Pull Apart Bread
This Christmas tree pull apart bread is perfect for the holiday season. It’s in the shape of a Christmas tree and is a perfect Christmas appetizer or side dish for a holiday meal.
It’s stuffed with cream cheese, garlic, and herbs.
This pull-apart bread with cream cheese is an easy recipe to make and looks impressive with its Christmas tree shape. It’s the perfect finger food – Guests can tear off a piece of the ‘tree’ and dip it into a dipping sauce.
Ingredients
The Christmas tree cheese bread dough is made from simple pizza dough. Find the amounts listed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
The dough
- All-purpose flour – Or bread flour can be used.
- Vegetable oil – I use olive oil. You can substitute this with melted unsalted butter
- Yeast – This can be instant or active dry yeast. Instant yeast will rise faster than active dried yeast. Whichever one you use, it needs to be viable. Usually, the instant yeast sachets are pretty full-proof, but sometimes active dried yeast can lose viability. To test the viability of yeast before beginning, warm the water to around 35-40°C/ 95-104°F and mix the yeast with the sugar. Leave it to sit for 5-10 minutes first. If it becomes foamy, it’s good to go.
- Sugar – a little to feed the yeast.
- Salt- for flavor.
- Water
The cream cheese filling
- Cream cheese -Block or spreadable works in this recipe; ensure it is at room temperature to make mixing the rest of the ingredients easier.
- Herbs – Parsley is a good base herb. More flavor can be added with more pungent herbs such as thyme, sage, or rosemary. You can use dried herbs, too, like Italian seasoning. I like to use fresh parsley as the primary herb and supplement it with fresh thyme.
- Garlic powder – Or, use minced fresh garlic.
- Cheese – Mozzarella has the best cheesy texture but lacks flavor. I prefer a mixture of grated mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and grated cheddar.
Method
In a large bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar and let it sit for 5 minutes until foamy. Add the remaining dough ingredients and stir with a fork until it forms a rough ball. Tip out the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes until smooth.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. Leave the bread dough to rise and double, for around an hour, depending on room temperature.
Shaping
In a small bowl, combine the room-temperature cream cheese, chopped herbs, and garlic and beat well to combine.
Pull the dough onto a large piece of parchment paper. Once it is shaped, it gets heavy, so it needs to be transported on parchment paper.
Roll the dough into a rectangle of around 18 inches/45cm in length and 12 inches/30cm in width. Use a pizza cutter to cut a triangle out of the middle of the dough. This gives one large middle triangle and two smaller triangles on the edges.
Spread the cream cheese filling onto the middle triangle (saving one tablespoon, which will later go into the tree trunk.)
Top with grated cheese.
Take the outer triangles and lay those over the middle triangle.
The outer triangles will likely become stretched from being moved. Cut off any pieces that are too big. These pieces will become the Christmas tree trunk.
The trunk
Shape the offcuts into a small rectangle. Spoon the saved cream cheese filling onto the rectangle and spread it out.
Add some grated cheese. Roll the rectangle up into a ‘trunk’ and tuck it into the bottom of the Christmas tree.
Cutting the shape of a tree
Use a dough cutter or sharp knife to cut lines up the sides of the triangle, leaving about 1cm (½ inch) of uncut space in the middle.
Twist each piece up. These are the branches of the tree.
Baking
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Slide a board or a flat tray under the parchment paper that the Christmas tree pull apart bread is on, and transfer the tree to the prepared baking sheet. Bake the pull-apart Christmas tree for around 25 minutes until it’s golden brown. This is a beautiful addition to the holiday table.
Serve with your favorite dipping sauces, such as sweet chili sauce, ranch dressing, spinach dip, or hummus.
Make ahead
The dough can be made the day before and kept in the refrigerator until you’re ready to shape it.
Storing
Leftover baked bread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. Warm it up in the microwave to soften it and melt the cheese.
Variations
- Pizza sauce – substitute the cream cheese mixture with your favorite marinara sauce.
- Garlic butter – The bread can be spread with garlic butter in place of cream cheese.
- Basil pesto – Is another great alternative to cream cheese.
Christmas Tree Pull Apart Bread
Easy pizza dough bread stuffed with cheese and herbs. Shaped like a Christmas Tree, perfect for the holidays.
Ingredients
Dough
- 300g (1 1/4 cups*) lukewarm water
- 10g (2 teaspoons) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- 440g (3 1/2 cups*) all-purpose or bread flour
- 28g (2 Tablespoons) olive oil
- 5g (1 teaspoon) salt
Cheese Filling
- 200g (7oz) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 150g (5oz) grated cheese - a mix of mozzarella and cheddar works well
Instructions
Dough
- In a large bowl,, combine the warm water, yeast and sugar and let it sit for 5 minutes until foamy. Add the remaining dough ingredients and stir with a fork until it forms a rough ball. Tip the dough on a floured bench and knead for 6-8 minutes until smooth.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. Leave the dough to rise and double, around 45-60 minutes, depending on room temperature.
Cream cheese filling
- In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, chopped herbs, and garlic and beat well to combine.
Shaping the tree
- Pull the dough onto a large piece of parchment paper that has been lightly floured. Once it is shaped, it gets heavy, so it needs to be transported on parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into a rectangle of around 18 inches/45cm in length and 12 inches/30cm in width. Use a pizza cutter to cut a triangle out of the middle of the dough. This gives one large middle triangle and two smaller triangles on the edges.
- Spread the cream cheese filling onto the middle triangle (saving one tablespoon, which will later go into the tree trunk), then top with grated cheese.
- Take the outer triangles and lay those over the middle triangle.
- The outer triangles will likely become stretched from being moved. Cut off any pieces that are too big. These pieces will become the Christmas tree trunk.
- Shape the offcuts into a small rectangle. Spoon the saved cream cheese filling onto the rectangle and spread it out. Roll the rectangle up into a 'trunk' and place it at the bottom of the Christmas tree.
- Use a dough cutter or a sharp knife to cut lines up the sides of the triangle, leaving about 1cm (½ inch) of uncut space in the middle. Twist each piece up into 'branches.'
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 390°F/200°C.
- Slide a board or a flat tray under the parchment paper and transfer the tree to an oven tray. Bake the bread for around 25 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve with favorite dipping sauces such as sweet chili sauce, ranch dressing, or hummus.
Notes
*The cup sizes given are US-size cups. Note that these are smaller than metric. For best results, use a kitchen scale and measure in grams.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 348Total Fat: 14.3gSaturated Fat: 7gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 400mgCarbohydrates: 45.3gFiber: 1.8gSugar: 0.8gProtein: 9.2g
Great! I can’t wait to get it ready! Thank you very much