Mozzarella and Garlic Butter Dough Ball Christmas Tree
A festive Christmas tree made of garlic-butter-stuffed mozzarella dough balls that pull apart into cheesy, garlicky bites.
Equipment
Ingredients
Dough
warm water (warm)
240 ml
sugar
5 g
active dry yeast
3 g
flour
250 g
olive oil
15 ml
salt
5 g
Filling
butter (softened)
75 g
garlic (crushed)
5 clove
Italian parsley (chopped)
15 g
mozzarella (cubed)
100 g
Instructions
Activate yeast
Mix warm water and sugar until dissolved, then stir in the yeast and let it become frothy.
Mix the dough
Add flour, olive oil and salt to the yeast mixture. Mix with dough hook on low speed for 5 minutes until smooth and slightly sticky.
First rise
Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Make garlic butter
Mix butter, garlic and parsley together, season with salt then refrigerate to chill.
Preheat oven
Preheat the oven to 200°C fan bake. Line a tray with baking paper.
Form dough balls
Divide the dough into 15 balls. Flatten each ball, place a ½ tsp of garlic butter and a cube of mozzarella in the centre and seal tightly around it.
Arrange tree shape
Arrange the filled balls on the tray in the shape of a tree. Add a small piece of dough at the base as the trunk.
Brush with garlic butter
Melt some of the garlic butter and brush over the dough.
Bake the tree
Bake for 20–25 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
Final brush
Brush with extra garlic butter before serving.
Original recipe
Storage
Reheat in oven to restore crispiness; avoid microwave as it makes the dough soggy.
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