Preparation time: 15min | Servings: 1

Are you already in Christmas mood? It is quite hard not to be with all the Christmas decorations around. Recently, I was at the shopping center with my daughter and we saw the Santa Claus village already in place with a big message saying he was coming on the 16th of November! What?!? I have an impression that each year Christmas starts earlier, don't you?

So back home, we talked about Christmas of course and my daughter started to wonder what to write in her letter to Santa Claus. I told her she had still some time to think about it. To keep us in the Christmas mood, we made this edible cucumber Christmas tree as our appetizer for dinner. It was really easy to make and a great fun! My daughter was amazed to see the tree growing and she did all the decoration. I helped her cut the pepper's dots and she placed them on the cucumber slices. She really was into it as if she was decorating a real Christmas tree:) Now, she can't wait to do it! Oh, and she also loved these little gifts we placed under our tree, as she LOVES cheese.

Did you know that the Christmas tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts or dates? In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which with electrification could also be replaced by Christmas lights.

Step1 Slice the cucumber: start with small slices, then make them bigger, cutting more and more diagonally.

Step2 Use a part of cucumber as a base for the Christmas tree and fix the skewer there. Start to attach cucumber slices from the biggest to the smallest.

Step3 Cut round shapes from all 3 peppers to make the Christmas balls, as the decoration for your cucumber Christmas tree. You can use a knife or any round object that would allow you to cut a round shape. The pepper dots should be small enough to hold on the cucumber slice. I have used a small cutter that has 2 different dimensions, so we have made balls in 2 different sizes. Use a cookie cutter to cut the star shape that you will put at the top of the tree. My daughter loves cheese, so we have also done some cheesy 'gifts' and placed them under our tree. They are very easy to make - cut cubes from cheese and draw ribbon-like lines using ketchup.

Step4 Decorate your cucumber Christmas tree, place the gifts underneath and enjoy!

Christmas tree - vegan snack for kids