Homemade Appetizer Tree

First, make the dough: Sift the flour. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl. Mix. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Next add approximately 1/2 of an egg yolk and the water. Mix well using your hands. Try to work quickly.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 10 -15 minutes.

Now take the chilled dough and roll out into a large rectangle that is about 1/8 inch thick, using a rolling pin. Cut the dough into long strips – 1/2 inch width. You should have 8 strips*. Now roll each dough strip around a metal tube (see photo – this will be the trunk of your trees). Before using the metal tubes, brush them with butter or oil. Size of the tube should be about 2 1/2 inch height and 1 inch diameter.

* Note: If you have extra dough, you can make eight tiny flowers (about the width of your tree trunks) to use for decoration for the top of your tree.

Place tubes on an oiled baking tray (if you can, place them in a vertical position). After that, take the remaining 1/2 egg and brush over dough .

Bake at 200 C for 10 minutes or until golden brown. When done, slide the tubes out and allow the ‘tree trunks’ to cool.

Next, in a pan heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and saute until slightly softened. Next add onion, salmon, and prepared (or leftover) mashed potatoes. Mix until onion is softened and everything is heated through. Add pepper and salt. Mix well. Put into a piping bag (or a Ziplock bag with the corner cut off). Now take the baked tubes and pipe some of the filling mixture into the middle of the tubes.

After that decorate with colored mashed potatoes.

For the garnish: Take your potatoes, peel and boil them, covered with water, until potatoes are fork tender. Drain the water. Squash the potato with a potato masher or mixer. Add butter salt, white pepper and green food coloring. Mix well.

Put the colored mashed potato mixture into another piping bag and pipe it on top of the filled ‘tree trunks’ in the shape of leaves and place the dough flowers on the top. I’ve done in the photo above.

Enjoy.