This has to be the best way to use up leftover whole cranberry sauce. It’s inevitable. There’s always a bit of cranberry sauce leftover after Thanksgiving or Christmas. And there’s nothing I hate more than wasting food. I’ll usually tuck it away in the freezer to make this brie appetizer later for a holiday get-together. All you need is a wheel of brie cheese, a box of frozen puff pastry, walnuts, and leftover cranberry sauce to make this easy cranberry brie bites recipe. This easy appetizer is simple but tastes super fancy. Each bite has a bit of buttery brie, crunch from the nuts, a hint of sweetness from the sauce, and flaky puff pastry happens to be the perfect vehicle for these flavors! You can use canned whole cranberry sauce if you don’t have any leftovers. If I use a store-bought sauce, I like to jazz it up with a hint of maple syrup, a bite of orange zest, and some cinnamon. It’s nearly impossible to tell it’s not homemade when you add these ingredients. These flavors work really well with brie, walnuts (or pecans), and the buttery puff pastry shells.
Ingredients for Cranberry Brie Bites:
Puff Pastry Sheets: A lot of similar recipes call for crescent roll dough but I feel the puff pastry squares make this a much more elevated appetizer. We’ll cut each sheet of puff pastry into 24 rectangles, spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and mold each cup with a piece of pastry.Wheel of Brie Cheese: I leave the rind on the wheel and just cut it into 48 pieces. Each piece will be able ½-ish inch in thickness, which is the perfect amount of cheese for each mini muffin tin.Cranberry Sauce: You can use homemade cranberry sauce or a cup of store-bought whole cranberry sauce. Keep in mind that cranberry jelly is different, so you want to use a sauce made with whole cranberries. Taste the sauce, if it needs sweetness, we’ll doctor it up with a few ingredients.Seasonings: I like to use a hint of ground cinnamon, a bit of orange zest, and a tablespoon of maple syrup. These flavors work beautifully with the brie. If you made cranberry sauce from scratch and use these ingredients in the sauce, you can skip these and use the sauce as is!Walnuts: Adds a bit of crunch to the brie bites. I use bits of walnuts but pecans also work well with cranberry and brie.Sprigs of Rosemary: These act as a garnish and a fresh element to the brie bites. I’m not a huge fan of fresh rosemary (makes me feel like I’m licking soap!) so I usually add these to look pretty as a garnish and pull them off before eating!
Instructions for Homemade Cranberry Brie Bites:
Tips for making cranberry brie bites:
Defrost the puff pastry ahead of time. I usually thaw the puff pastry in the refrigerator overnight before making these. There are other directions on the box on how you can thaw it quickly, but this method seems to work best for me.This recipe will work with crescent dough. If you happen to like crescent dough, you can easily swap it for the puff pastry sheets. Roll out the sheets of dough the same way and make the same amount of pieces. The baking time may vary a bit, so just keep a close eye on them.Make a variation if you don’t like cranberry sauce! You can use orange marmalade, fig preserves, raspberry jam, strawberry preserves, blackberry jam, or even currant jam if you don’t happen to have/like cranberry sauce. You can skip the zest, cinnamon, and maple syrup if you use a jam or preserve!
If you like this appetizer recipe, you might also like:
Gruyere, Mushroom, Caramelized Onion BitesFirecracker Chicken MeatballsCheesy Wild Rice Chicken FrittersHealthy Cowboy CaviarGarlic Baked Brie
Whole Cranberry Sauce: If you use store-bought sauce, I recommend using whole cranberry sauce, not cranberry jelly.Cinnamon, Orange Zest + Maple Syrup: If you used a homemade cranberry sauce and used these ingredients in your sauce, you don’t have to add more, these are more for doctoring up store-bought sauce.If you have 2 24-cup mini muffin pans you can bake both at the same time. Just place the oven racks in the upper third and lower third.
