This easy Christmas veggie pizza decorated like a Christmas tree is the most adorable cold appetizer. Savory, creamy, and always crowd pleaser, it's a hit for a party!
Ingredients
16ouncescrescent doughsheets if you can, but regular crescent dough works also
7.5ounceswhipped chive cream cheeseAbout a cup, regular cream cheese works fine also.
½cupsour cream
1red bell pepper
1yellow bell pepper
1 1/4 cupsbroccoli floretschopped into small pieces
½cupsmall cauliflower florets
2tablespoonsgrated carrot
2tablespoonsred oniondiced small
5cherry tomatoescut in half
1scallion or green onionthinly sliced
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly oil a rimmed baking pan or line with parchment paper.
Lay the crescent dough on the pan, overlapping the sheets. Pinch and press the dough together to seal the seams to make one large sheet, folding any extra dough down around the edges. Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. Let cool completely.
Place the dough on the pan into the oven. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until lightly brown. Let the pan and dough cool completly to the touch before adding toppings.
In a small bowl stir together cream cheese and sour cream until combined. Spread this mixture over the crescent dough leaving a thin space for a crust along the edge. See notes for a tip about cutting this appetizer.
Using a butter knife or a chopstick, lightly trace a large tree shape in the cream cheese spread on top of the dough. If you make a mistake simply spread the cream cheese again and trace again until you get the shape you want.
Place broccoli florets inside the tree shape close together to fill in the tree shape. Fill in the white space around the broccoli tree with pieces of cauliflower. Sprinkle the shredded carrots all over the broccoli.
Slice the very top off the yellow bell pepper and remove the core and seeds. Use small star cookie cutters to cut stars from both bell peppers. I made a larger star for the top of the tree. Decorate the rest of the tree with stars and the sliced cherry tomatoes.
Sprinkle red onion and scallions over the entire pan. Slice and serve!
Notes
It can be helpful to cut the veggie pizza after adding the cream cheese but before making and decorating the tree. This allows the pizza to be pulled apart more easily when it is time to eat. While I think it looks a little prettier if you don't cut ahead, this can be handy if you are taking this appetizer with you somewhere that you don't have access to a big cutting board.
Regular plain block cream cheese can be used in place of flavored whipped cream cheese used in this recipe. See the article for more details about how to make the swap.
You can also use pizza dough in this recipe or my homemade pizza dough recipe but make sure to double the recipe.