These cranberry brie bites are such an easy appetizer recipe and they taste sooooo good!! With only 3 simple ingredients they’re also really easy to make! You can use canned cranberry sauce (that’s what I used), but they also taste amazing with leftover cranberry sauce. Either way – YUM!
My mom first made this appetizer almost 20 years ago. I have no idea where she got the recipe? It’s so simple, and they always tasted amaaaaaazing. I love cheese. And I love baked brie cheese. How can you resist gooey, melted cheese!?
It’s one of those recipes we never actually wrote down. So when I went to make it again (it’s been a few years), I had some issues getting the puff pastry to cook. I first tried baking them at 375F for about 12 minutes but the brie started to bubble up over the sides (and into my oven…), and the puff pastry wasn’t browned and flaky.
The second time I baked them at 425F for 9 minutes and they turned out perfectly! Who knew that the oven temperature makes such a big difference when it comes to puff pastry!? So definitely make sure your oven is fully preheated before you get started!
I’d also recommend buying regular brie rather than double cream brie. The double cream brie is much runnier and it ended up bubbling up in the oven much quicker than regular brie would have. So when you see the photo below with the package that says double cream brie, ignore it!!!! And just buy a package that simply says “Brie”.
Check out our video for how to make Cranberry Brie Bites:
If you’re looking for more simple appetizer ideas, check out our recipes for:
Loaded Tater Tot Skewers Recipe
How to Make Cranberry Brie Bites:
The full printable recipe is at the end of this post, but here’s what you’ll need. Only 3 simple ingredients!!
- Puff Pastry
- Brie Cheese
- Cranberry Sauce
This is one of the EASIEST and tastiest appetizers ever and you only need 3 ingredients! I made 24 cranberry brie bites in mini muffin tins, but you might even be able to get 36 bites.
I cut my dough, then I realized that my squares were too big for the mini muffin pan. So I trimmed them to make them smaller, which ended up wasting quite a bit of puff pastry dough.
If you’re using a mini muffin tin, a good size to make the squares is about 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches. Any bigger than that and you’ll have too much pastry puffing up over the sides.
Lay the puff pastry dough on a cutting board and use a pizza cutter to cut the squares.
Gently press each of the squares into the openings in the mini muffin pans so they form a small bowl.
Cut your brie into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch chunks. Then place a chunk of cheese in each of the pastry cups.
Add some cranberry sauce on top of the brie. I didn’t exactly measure the cranberry sauce… it was about 1 teaspoon maybe? Add just enough cranberry sauce to mostly cover the brie.
I used canned cranberry sauce from the grocery store – the type that has whole berries in it. Leftover cranberry sauce would work really well too!
These look SOOO good already!
Bake your brie bites at 425F for about 10 minutes. (I pulled mine out at 9 minutes).
Keep an eye on them and pull them out when they look golden brown. At such a high temperature, it doesn’t take long for them to burn!
Cranberry and brie are such awesome flavours for the holidays! (Or any time of the year… I’m not picky!)
The next photos are actually the ones I baked at 375F, rather than 425F (my first attempt). Don’t get me wrong, I ate them anyway… but the pastry definitely could have been more golden and flaky.
These were SOOO good. I ate at least 5 of them as soon as they were cool enough to eat. They’re super addictive!
Cranberry Brie Bites
Ingredients
- 1 package puff pastry thawed
- 1 cup cranberry sauce
- 450 grams brie cheese chilled
Instructions
- Make sure your puff pastry dough is fully thawed before you start. It could take 2 hours to completely defrost at room temperature.
- Spray two mini muffin tins with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Unroll your puff pastry dough onto a cutting board. Use a pizza cutter to cut it into squares that are about 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches.
- Press one dough square into each of the mini muffin cups and bend the dough up the sides so it forms a small bowl.
- Cut the brie into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch chunks. Then place a chunk of brie into each of the muffin cups.
- Add some cranberry sauce on top of each piece of brie - just enough so that the brie is mostly covered.
- Bake at 425F for 8 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. (I baked mine for 9 minutes).
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Notes
- Use regular "Brie" cheese, not "Double Cream Brie".
These cranberry brie bites taste SO GOOD and you only need 3 ingredients to make them! This is such an easy appetizer recipe and a great way to use leftover cranberry sauce! In less than 30 minutes you can make a delicious holiday appetizer – who can resist gooey, melty cheese!? They’re perfect for Christmas parties, Thanksgiving, or any time of the year!
Here’s a few more delicious snack recipes:
Loaded Tater Tot Skewers Recipe
Don’t forget to check out our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids for 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! It’s loaded with tons of super fun kids craft ideas!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
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Rachel says
This looks amazing! I have a stupid/beginner question – I’ve never used brie before. Do I need to take the rind off it? Or does the rind stay on and is it safe to eat?
Debbie Chapman says
You can definitely leave the rind on. It’s perfectly safe to eat. 🙂
Lori says
I made a whole plate full and they sat for awhile, they were very good. Better cold than warm. I will make these again.
Beks says
These were a hit at Thanksgiving. Instead of cranberry sauce, I used a cranberry-jalapeño jelly that I found at Whole Foods.
One Little Project says
That’s great! Love that you made it your own!
Diane says
Can these be made ahead of time and how should they be stored?
Debbie Chapman says
I don’t recommend baking these ahead of time. But you could probably assemble them the night before, cover them with plastic wrap and bake them at the last minute.
Kandie Geffre says
We make this recipe using the phyllo cups. Much easier than cutting squares of the dough. Find in the freezer section of most grocery stores.
Renee says
Are you using mini muffin tins or regular muffin tins? Your phots look like regular muffin tins for 12 muffins , thus two pans making the 24 muffins.
One Little Project says
Hi Renee. I used a mini muffin tin for this recipe.
Froggy says
I used the cranberry orange relish from TJ’s, and topped it with a bit of fresh basil. Thanks for the recipe!
One Little Project says
Sounds great! Glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Courtney says
Can you use crescent dough rather than puff pastry? And how come you wouldn’t use double Brie?
One Little Project says
Hi Courtney! Crescent roll dough would definitely work, but it’ll create a different kind of shell than the puff pastry. (And you might have to adjust the time and temperature.)
As mentioned in the post, the double cream brie is a lot runnier when heated and it boiled over the shells before they were cooked.
Sam says
Do you use jellied cranberry sauce or whole
One Little Project says
Hi Sam! We used whole berry cranberry sauce.