Ingredients

• 1 lb pizza dough
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tbsp rosemary
• 1 tbsp basil
• 1 oz parmesan, freshly grated
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp water

• 4 tbsp butter
• 7 mozzarella sticks
• flour
• marinara sauce
• red pepper flakes

Method

1. cut each mozzarella stick into 5 even pieces (use a ruler and something to mark the sizes if needed!)
2. dust some flour onto a cutting board and cut the dough in half
3. roll out each piece of dough to be about 18 inches long by 4 inches wide
4. slice the roll down the long middle and cut several 2 in by 2 in squares of dough
5. for each square of dough, put mozzarella in the middle and bring in the corners to wrap it into a ball
6. put 7 of the dough-balls onto a baking pan (this will be the bottom of the tree)
7. after the row of 7, make a row of 6 on top of it, then 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Add a row of 2 on the bottom to make it the trunk of the tree
8. preheat the oven to 450°F
9. whisk 1 egg and 1 tbsp of water in a small bowl to make the egg wash, than brush it all over the dough
10. cook in the oven at 450°F for 15-20 minutes
11. melt the butter in a small bowl and pour marinara sauce into another small bowl
12. put basil, rosemary, and parsley into the bowl of melted butter
13. add the parmesan into the bowl, saving some for dusting in the end
14. once you take the dough out of the oven, brush the butter mixture onto it and sprinkle some parmesan and flakes of red pepper on top
15. let it cool for a few minutes, then serve it on a platter with the marinara sauce on the side. Feel free to decorate the platter with Christmas decor to make it more festive if you’d like! Enjoy!