Christmas Tree Spinach & Cheese Breadsticks
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 340 g Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 340g=12oz
- 6 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 cloves garlic Grated or 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (Get Clubhouse brand, it’s life changing ;)
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup grated cheddar OR mozzarella cheese divided in half
- 1 tube refrigerated thin crust pizza crust **at least 12 oz** I used Pillsbury **SEE NOTE**
Butter topping
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Garnishes
- Freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parm (Snow ;)
- Fresh Rosemary
Instructions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a bowl, beat together the spinach and cream cheese.
- Add garlic, salt, onion powder, chili powder, pepper, and Italian seasoning and beat to combine.
- Add parmesan cheese and half of the cheddar or mozzarella cheese and beat to combine. (The other half of the cheddar or mozzarella cheese will be sprinkled over the filling when you shape the Christmas tree.)
- To make the Christmas tree shape, unroll the pizza crust onto a sheet of parchment paper. Use a pizza cutter to cut it as shown into one larger tree shaped triangle and two smaller triangles. Move the smaller triangles to a second sheet of parchment paper with their straight edges touching to create a second triangle of dough that is the same shape as the first.
- Spread the spinach dip across the second triangle you made and sprinkle it with the rest of the cheese. Flip the first triangle over on top so you have layers of pizza dough with spinach dip sandwiched between them.
- Now you'll make cuts, leaving about an inch in the center intact. Cut from near the center out to the side on both the left and right every inch or so to create slices. (Map out where your cuts are going to be by lightly scoring the dough. This way you can ensure that your branches are all the same width and that they’re straight.)
- Grab each "slice" and twist it upwards. At the top where they are short you'll only twist halfway around. At the bottom where they are longer you can do two or three full twists.
- Bake for about 22 minutes until quite golden brown on top and cooked through on the bottom.
- Melt butter and stir in garlic salt and seasoning, then brush over breadsticks, and serve warm.
- Optional - garnish with some “snow” Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh Rosemary
Notes
1) Please note that if you’re not feeling confident about using the triangle cut-outs to form the second layer of dough, you can just get a second tube of Pillsbury pizza dough and cut out an identical triangle. Use the leftover triangles to make Nutella pizza rolls or something ;)
2) Map out where your cuts are going to be beforehand. The most important piece of advice I can give about this recipe is to lightly score where you plan to cut your branches so you have a guide. Without a guide, if you start cutting crooked, it’ll just get exponentially more crooked as you go.
3) If using regular fresh dough, weigh and use 13.8 oz and roll it out until it's about 10x13 inches in size. Ideally, it’s gotta be thin. I have yet to try using fresh pizza dough but I’m sure it’ll taste great if you do.
Recipe based on a recipe by: https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/christmas-tree-spinach-dip-breadsticks.html