Cranberry Brie Bites – Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

These cranberry brie bites are festive, easy and DELICIOUS! Puff pastry, brie, cranberry sauce and a simple topping make such a tasty combination!

Cranberry + brie cheese is incredible, especially when wrapped up in puff pastry!

And these delightful little puff pastry bites are always a hit for parties, appetizers, or anytime. I personally make them sometimes just for…me. I love them so much.

A Note About Puff Pastry

This recipe calls for one sheet of puff pastry. We’re not bothering with homemade puff pastry here (remember, this is an easy recipe), but if you want to go that route, please do so! #rockstar

Roll the sheet of puff pastry out into a thin rectangle and cut into 24 squares.

A Note About Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is a tart, sweet key component of this recipe.

In the recipe, I’ve given a super easy homemade cranberry sauce recipe. You can use your own recipe for cranberry sauce or even cranberry sauce from the can, if that’s your taste preference.

You’ll need just a little over a cup of cranberry sauce for the recipe.

Too much cranberry will overwhelm the brie, so don’t be too heavy handed with it.

A Note About Brie Cheese

Speaking of brie cheese…let’s talk about it!

The biggest question with brie cheese is whether to remove the rind or not. While the rind doesn’t impart noticeable flavor, I think the brie is creamier without it (I know not everyone will agree with me – let’s still be friends).

I use a sharp knife to shave off most of the rind without digging into the precious cheese too much. You can see from the picture below that there are still little nubbins of rind on the cheese, but most of it is gonzo.

Pro tip: since brie is a soft cheese, freezing the wheel of brie for a few minutes or coating your knife blade with cooking spray will help the cutting process.

Press each chunk of brie into a cute, little round disc so it nestles right into the muffin cup.

Assembling the Cranberry Brie Bites

1. Press each square of puff pastry into the bottom of a greased mini muffin cup.
2. Pop in a piece of brie.
3. Top with a teaspoon of cranberry sauce.
4. Sprinkle finely chopped pecans, brown sugar, and coarse, kosher salt on top.
5. Bake until golden and sizzling.

The brie may bubble up and out of the puff pastry cups a little bit. That’s ok!

To minimize this, you can put the cranberry sauce in the bottom and the brie on top, but I don’t think the bites are quite as pretty that way.

So I personally champion the messy look (kind of like my daily outfit of joggers + messy bun: #keepinitreal), and I love the golden bits of brie around the edges.

How to Serve

These cranberry brie bites are tasty served warm or at room temperature.

It works best to let them cool in the muffin tin for 2-3 minutes and then use a butter knife to gently lift out of the pan onto a serving tray.

A Perfect Little Treat

Are these cranberry brie bites a treat or a snack? An appetizer or a side dish? 😉 I’ll let you decide!

As irresistible as they are to me (as in, I can pretty much eat the entire bite-size batch without a second’s hesitation), I put them in the treat category. But they really do make a wonderful appetizer or snack.

The tart, sweet, creamy, cheesy, flaky, buttery combo is so incredibly delicious! A favorite holiday “treat” for sure!

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Cranberry Brie Bites

Yield: 24 bites

Prep Time: 25 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 45 mins

Cranberry Brie Bites:

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 8 ounces brie cheese
• 1 ¼ cup cranberry sauce (homemade version below)
• ¼ cup finely chopped pecans
• Brown sugar
• Coarse, kosher salt

Homemade Cranberry Sauce:

• 1 cup (4 ounces, 113 g) fresh cranberries
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
• 1 tablespoon water

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin with cooking spray.

• Roll the puff pastry out between two sheets of parchment paper or on a lightly floured counter to about 10-X14-inches. Cut the puff pastry sheet lengthwise into four strips and then crosswise into six strips to make 24 squares.

• Gently press each square into the cups of the prepared muffin tin.

• Cut the brie into 24 pieces, about 3/4- to 1-inch in size (removing the rind is optional; I like to cut as much off as possible without digging into the cheese). If the brie is too soft to cut easily, use a knife coated in cooking spray to cut and/or freeze the brie for a few minutes.

• Press each piece of brie into a round, thick disc shape and place in the bottom of each muffin cup.

• Add a teaspoon or so of cranberry sauce on top of each piece of brie followed by a sprinkle of pecans and a pinch of brown sugar and salt.

• Place the mini muffin tin on a foil-lined baking sheet to catch any spillovers and bake for 18-20 minutes until the puff pastry is golden and the cheese is sizzling.

• Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes. Use a butter knife to gently lift each puff pastry bite from the muffin tin to a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.

• For the homemade cranberry sauce, combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the cranberries have burst and softened and the sauce is thick and syrupy (it will thicken more as it cools). Let the sauce cool to room temp before using in the recipe.

Serving: 1 bite, Calories: 109kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 9mg, Sodium: 85mg, Fiber: 0.4g, Sugar: 3g

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