Cranberry Brie Bites are the perfect holiday appetizer. Crispy phyllo cups filled with Brie cheese, homemade cranberry sauce, and toasted pecans. Delicious!
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Why Make This Recipe
- So easy: With pre-made phyllo cups, these little brie bites are really easy to make.
- Holiday flavors: The combination of the tart cranberry sauce with creamy brie cheese and nutty pecans is perfection!
- Vegetarian FTW: So many delicious appetizers are meat-heavy. We love that this is a vegetarian appetizer that EVERYONE will love.
🥗 Ingredients
- Pecans: These brie and cranberry bites would work with all kinds of nuts. Feel free to sub in pistachios or hazelnuts or any other nut you prefer.
- Fresh Cranberries: This recipe includes an easy homemade cranberry sauce using fresh cranberries and orange. If you’re in a rush though, you could absolutely substitute pre-made cranberry sauce. This is also a great use for leftover cranberry sauce from a holiday meal!
- Brie Cheese: We love the creamy texture and mild flavor of Brie cheese. But you could substitute a soft goat cheese or feta cheese.
- Thyme Leaves: Feel free to replace with fresh rosemary.
- Phyllo Cups: Traditionally, cranberry brie bites are made with puff pastry dough or crescent roll dough. If you want to try using that instead, you’ll need to cut the dough in small squares and press into a mini muffin tin.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put ⅓ cup pecans on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until lightly toasted. You should be able to smell the toasted pecans when they are ready.
Remove from oven and let cool.
Meanwhile, rinse 6 ounces of fresh cranberries and pat dry.
Chop 6 ounces Brie cheese into small pieces, removing the rind if you prefer. (Make sure each piece will fit into a phyllo cup.)
Put cranberries in saucepan with ¾ cup sugar, ¼ cup orange juice, 2 tablespoons water, and 1 tablespoon orange zest.
Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil.
Turn down heat to medium-low and simmer until cranberries pop and the mixture thickens, about 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste and add more sugar if you prefer a sweeter cranberry sauce.
Remove from heat and let cool until room temperature, about 20 minutes.
Chop pecans.
When all ingredients are ready, lay out 30 phyllo cups on a baking sheet.
Fill each cup with a dollop of cranberry sauce, a piece of cheese, and some chopped pecans.
Bake at 350 for 5-8 minutes, until Brie begins to melt.
Remove from oven, and transfer bites to a wire rack to cool. Garnish with fresh thyme leaves and serve warm.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Cranberry Brie Bites
You can make all the individual components of these baked Brie bites ahead of time, but we recommend waiting to bake them until you’re ready to serve. The cranberry sauce can be made up to 3 days before, and you can toast and chop the pecans at least a day or two in advance. You can cut the Brie into chunks and refrigerate until you need it. And of course, the phyllo cups can wait in the freezer until you’re ready.
If you do have leftovers, keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When you want to reheat them, bake in a 375-degree oven for a few minutes, until the cheese softens and the phyllo cups crisp up again. You could also try reheating in an air fryer, but try just a minute or so at a time so that you are sure they aren’t starting to burn.
There are two keys to keeping your phyllo cups crisp. The first is to make sure you don’t fill them with a liquidy ingredient and then let them sit for a while before baking. The second is to make sure that when you take them out of oven, you move the cups to a wire rack to cool. That will help them stay crispy!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
If your Brie is quite soft, you can put it in the freezer for a few minutes to make it easier to cut.
Zesting and juicing one orange should be enough to make the ¼ cup juice and tablespoon of zest you need for this recipe.
If you are in a hurry, you can put the cranberry sauce in the fridge to speed up chilling time. It can also be helpful to transfer it to a wide, shallow container and stir frequently.
To make quick work of assembly, use a small cookie scoop to add the cranberry sauce into each cup.
If your tastes run more sweet than savory, you may want to add more sugar to your cranberry jam. Stir in some more sugar when jam is still hot, and add a little water or orange juice if you need.
The combination of Brie and cranberry in this recipe is super tasty, but Brie goes well with all sorts of other flavors as well. You could try replacing the cranberry sauce with a different type of jam: fig jam, apricot jam, and pepper jelly would be delicious in this recipe. Or try a different Brie recipe all together—maybe this Baked Brie with Fig Jam?
Other Delicious Holiday Appetizers
This cranberry brie appetizer is as festive as it gets, but there are so many other delicious appetizer options for the holidays. Check out our Appetizer recipe archive or see these favorites:
And, don’t forget the Vin Chaud! Perfect to warm up your holiday party!
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to us.
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📖 Recipe
Cranberry Brie Bites
Cranberry Brie Bites are the perfect holiday appetizer. Crispy phyllo cups filled with Brie cheese, homemade cranberry sauce, and toasted pecans.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup pecans (1.3 ounces)
- 6 ounces fresh cranberries
- 6 ounces Brie cheese
- ¾ cup sugar (5.9 ounces)
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 30 phyllo cups
- Fresh thyme leaves, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put pecans on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and let cool.
- Meanwhile, rinse cranberries and pat dry.
- Chop Brie into small pieces, removing the rind if you prefer.
- Put cranberries in saucepan with sugar, orange juice, water, and orange zest.
- Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil.
- Turn down heat to medium-low and simmer until cranberries pop and the mixture thickens, about 8 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and let cool until room temperature, about 20 minutes.
- Chop pecans.
- When all ingredients are ready, lay out phyllo cups on a baking sheet.
- Fill each cup with a dollop of cranberry sauce, a piece of cheese, and some chopped pecans.
- Bake at 350 for 5-8 minutes, until Brie begins to melt.
- Remove from oven, and transfer bites to a wire rack to cool slightly.
- Garnish with fresh thyme leaves, and serve warm.
Notes
Storage:
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When you want to reheat them, bake in a 375-degree oven for a few minutes, until the cheese softens and the phyllo cups crisp up again. You could also try reheating in an air fryer, but try just a minute or so at a time so that you are sure they aren’t starting to burn.
Make-Ahead: You can make all the individual components of these baked Brie bites ahead of time, but we recommend waiting to bake them until you’re ready to serve. The cranberry sauce can be made up to 3 days before, and you can toast and chop the pecans at least a day or two in advance. You can cut the Brie into chunks and refrigerate until you need it. And of course, the phyllo cups can wait in the freezer until you’re ready.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 15 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 258Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 255mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 11gProtein: 4g
Nutrition information is provided as a general reference for users courtesy of the online nutrition calculator Nutritionix.
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag us @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because we'd love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
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