Easy Christmas Tree Cheese Bread

Looking for the perfect Christmas appetizer, even for picky kids? Here's how to make an Easy Christmas Tree Cheese Bread!

I'm always on a quest to find the perfect Christmas lunch recipe. It has to be easy and very kid friendly.

Because, the truth is that if you have a little kids, you do not want to spend Christmas day cooking. You want to be present with them in the excitement of the morning.

But, you probably want to eat something a little bit fun and festive for lunch.

We gave up on a formal Christmas meal a few years ago, and instead stick with things that can easily be thrown in the oven and eaten as people get hungry. We've done a lot of grilled cheese and pull apart cheesy breads in the past.

This year, I decided to make a Christmas tree shaped cheese bread.

This is super easy to make using premade pizza dough.

While I haven't done it, I feel pretty confident that you could make this the night before, wrap the pan and saran wrap and put it in the fridge, then remove the plastic wrap and bake it in the oven when you are ready to eat.

You could also customize this depending on your audience. I think it would be beautiful with pesto as a filling and little pepperoni or tomato ornaments all over the tree.

I have to make it as plain as plain could be because my kids, my daughter in particular, are extremely picky eaters right now.

But I love it. This is customizable and super kid friendly. Here's how to make it!

Easy Christmas Tree Cheese Bread Recipe

Here's how easy it is to make this Christmas tree cheesy bread!

Ingredients to make:

• 2 rolls pre-made pizza dough
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 clove minced garlic OR garlic powder, 1 teaspoon
• ½ cup shredded cheese
• Optional toppings: mini pepperonis, sliced veggies
• Serve with: pizza sauce, ranch, bbq sauce, or your choice of dipping sauce

Steps to make:

1. Unroll 1 roll of pizza dough and lay out flat.
2. Melt butter (I used microwave) and stir in garlic.
3. Use brush or spoon to brush top of dough rectangle with melted garlic butter.
4. Sprinkle shredded cheese over entire buttered dough rectangle.
5. Open 2nd can of dough and place on top. Press down gently with hands to sandwich together.
6. Use pizza cutter or knife to cut top ⅓ of rectangle into tree-shape, cutting a triangle from each side. Set scrap aside.
7. Use cutter to cut slits, about 1.5" apart, down side of dough. Repeat on the other side so the slits are aligned.
8. Grab each strip of dough and gently pinch, twist, and place back down. Work your way down the tree. The further down towards the base of the tree you get, stretch the strips a bit more as you twist them to get the branches longer for that tree shape.
9. Use a star or snowflake cookie cutter on the scraps to cut a tree topper, place on tip of the tree.
10. Optional: take other scraps, make into balls, and place as "ornaments".
11. Optional: add mini pepperonis, olive slices, or other toppings as "ornaments".
12. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
13. Let cool 5 minutes.
14. Pull the branches as bread sticks and slice the trunk into pieces.
15. Serve with dip of choice. Enjoy!