Spinach Pastry
December 5, 2017

Christmas is right around the corner! And if you’re not too busy decorating and buying last minutes gifts, I’ve got the perfect Spinach Pastry recipe for you to make this holiday season. Oh yeah, to top it off, I shaped it like a Christmas tree! ‘Tis the season, guys, I just had to go all out. (Especially if the kids are anti-spinach, well at least it looks festive!) However you can also shape it round like a wreath or any other shape that suits your needs, just be creative and share your ideas with me!

Before we dig in, I want you to know that this post is part of a series of recipes made especially for the holidays. I truly hope you will enjoy it and Happy Holidays to you and your family!

First, let’s talk about this awesome tray! I serve this tasty Spinach pastry on a tray created by ZAK Design Europe – which is basically the crème-le-da-crème of kitchen design. After winning two OSMOS bowls on their Facebook drawing, I have developed a friendship with the company’s team and I can’t wait to share more of their products on my blog :)



The tray featured here is part of their red collection – so yes, it’s already got that festive edge and spark that only the holidays bring. Plus, the quality of the products is insanely good and they’re very easy to wash so now your family won’t have a reason to skip out on cleaning because it’s as easy as snow falling on a chilly day. Remember how I mentioned you might be in the middle of last minute shopping? Well it’s a good thing ZAK Design Europe also sells sets of products together that are the perfect gift for friends and family. Who knows, it might make them love and appreciate good kitchenware even more than I do?!



Without further ado, this delicious spinach pastry is made with savory yeast dough which gives it that warm, fluffy taste and the filling can go either way - more diet based with low fat cheese or a complete finger-licking delicacy with cream cheese. Any way that you choose is guaranteed to wind up delicious! Don’t forget that soon you’ll be thinking about making a New Year's resolutions so just one last sin is more than fine ;)

Ingredients:
For the dough:

• 500 grams of flour
• 1 tablespoon of dry yeast
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup of lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon of salt

For the filling:

• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
• 350 grams of chopped spinach (I used frozen spinach cubes)
• 1 egg
• 250 grams of cream cheese or 5% fat white cheese
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg powder
• Salt and pepper by your taste

For garnish:

• 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds

Preparation:

• 1. In the mixer bowl, mix all of the dough ingredients for 7 minutes. When you place the yeast and the salt, try to place them apart as the salt will only undo the yeast action which means that the dough will not rise.
• 2. Grease the bowl and let the dough rise for an hour.
• 3. In a small pot full of boiling water, cook the frozen spinach for 5 minutes.
• 4. Sift the spinach from the water into a small bowl and mix with the rest of the filling ingredients apart from the bread crumbs.
• 5. Heat the oven to 180°C degrees with the fan.
• 6. Split the dough to 2 parts and roll each one of them to a rectangle.
• 7. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on one of the dough rectangles in a tree shape or a circle for a wreath. On the rectangles, the filling will be placed so it won't wet the dough too much.
• 8. Place the filling according to the design you chose and the second part of the rolled dough on top.
• 9. With a fork, or with your hands, close the 2 parts of the dough to one shape that holds the filling.

• 10. Cut the excess dough if there is any.
• 11. Cut stripes like tree branches and twist them to expose the filling.
• 12. Sprinkle sesame seeds on the pastry.
• 13. Bake the pastry for half an hou .
• 14. Cool the pastry at room temperature.
• 15. As if it needs to be said, slice up a piece and enjoy!

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