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A scrumptious blend of flaky pastry, melted cheese, and tart-sweet fruitiness, holiday appetisers don’t get much easier to make than these cranberry brie bites. It takes only three ingredients and just half an hour to make 24 of these. Yet they’re so moreish, you’ll probably want to double the recipe.
Don’t feel boxed in by the festive season either. These bites are easily adapted to suit any time of year. Scroll to the bottom for tips on using different flavour combinations and make this easy recipe your new go-to appetiser for pretty much any occasion you can think of.
Ingredients
- 1 pack frozen puff pastry, thawed
- 225g (½ lb) brie cheese
- 1 cup cranberry sauce
Method
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Slice the sheets of puff pastry into 7.5 cm x 7.5 cm (3 inch x 3 inch) squares. A pizza cutter is perfect for this job, although a sharp knife will do.
- Grease the holes of a mini-muffin tray and press a pastry square into each one so that the corners stick out like flower petals (they don’t need to look very neat).
- Cut the brie into 2 cm x 2 cm squares (¾ inch x ¾ inch). It’s up to you whether you choose to leave the rind on.
- Place a cube of brie in the middle of each pastry square and top each brie cube with a heaped tsp of cranberry sauce.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes until the corners of the pastry have browned.
- Allow to cool for a couple of minutes. Serve while the brie is still melt-in-the-mouth warm.
Tips
- For best results, follow the thawing directions on the puff pastry packet before use.
- Canned, jarred, or homemade cranberry sauce all work equally well in this recipe.
- This recipe is easily adaptable. If you prefer, you can even use jam or marmalade. Raspberry and strawberry jams are good stand-ins for cranberry sauce if you don’t have any, but quince, apricot, and fig preserves also work wonders when combined with brie.
- You can also use different cheeses. Use your imagination to explore cheese–preserve combinations that really click.
- If you’d prefer to make these more savoury, try chutney or even pesto. You can also top your bites with crushed nuts. For instance, these make a great summer appetiser when made with mozzarella instead or brie, pesto and tomato jam instead of cranberry sauce, and topped with toasted pine nuts.
