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Snack & Appetizers

Tramezzini Christmas Trees (Stacked Star Sandwiches)

Filled star-shaped canapés stacked into little trees: a quick, easy and eye-catching Christmas appetizer.
Recipe Tramezzini Christmas Trees (Stacked Star Sandwiches)
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Preparation 20 minutes
  • Servings for 4 people

As you well know by now, when you’re putting together Christmas lunches, big holiday dinners and aperitivos over the holidays, having recipes that make your life easier is extremely important. That’s why today we want to share this quick and easy Christmas appetizer which, with just a few ingredients, lets you bring to the table eye-catching filled canapés shaped like trees of tramezzini, the Italian crustless sandwiches.

All you need are some long toothpicks (the skewer kind), the molds or cookie cutters you like best (although we recommend star-shaped ones, for guaranteed results), a few slices of sandwich bread and whatever ingredients you like best to fill your canapés.

Have more time and looking for something more elaborate? We have lots of recipes for your holiday menus, so take a look at the Stuffed Puff Pastry Stars, the Savory Egg and Ham Tartlets or the Crostini with Apples, Cheese and Honey.

Ingredients for 4 people

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Method

  1. To make your Tramezzini Christmas Trees, start by making the tartar sauce (if you already have some ready, you can skip this step).
  2. Get some star-shaped pastry rings (or cookie cutters) in increasing sizes. Cut 7 stars of different sizes out of your sandwich bread and arrange them from the largest (for the base) to the smallest (for the top).
  3. Now you can assemble your little trees in this order: place the largest star at the bottom, lay a lettuce leaf on top and add a slightly smaller star.
  4. Spread a little tartar sauce on the smaller star, lay a slice of prosciutto on it and spread a little more tartar sauce on top. Finally, place a smaller star on the prosciutto.
  5. Keep building your little tree by repeating the steps you’ve just done (lettuce, bread, sauce, prosciutto, sauce and finally bread), making sure to use gradually smaller stars.
  6. Once you reach the top, you can make the tip: we recommend using a shooting-star cutter, or a knife, to cut the tip out of the fontina.
  7. For the best stability, before adding the fontina star, we recommend inserting a skewer, which will also hold the tip of your little tree perfectly in position.
  8. All that’s left is to repeat these steps for each of the tramezzini trees you want to make. Finally, remember to download our App with exclusive content and fewer ads!

Variations and Alternatives

You can let your imagination run wild when making these sandwiches: instead of tartar sauce you could go for salsa rosa (Italian cocktail sauce), tuna sauce or mayonnaise (perhaps wowing everyone with our Avocado Mayonnaise), and in the same way you could use whatever cold cuts you like best. And for an even more original little tree, why not alternate each layer with a different filling?

If you want a little tree with an even neater shape, we recommend cutting both the bread and the fillings with the cutters.

Tips

It’s important to use star shapes that get gradually smaller, otherwise the visual effect won’t be guaranteed. You can find these molds or cutters in kitchenware stores or on Amazon.

Storage

Tramezzini Christmas Trees should be eaten within 1-2 days.

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