Are you in need of a last minute, easy and quick to assemble, appetizer for your Holiday dinner or party? I have just the appetizer for you! It’s pretty, but more important, tasty and sure to be a hit with your guests. My husband, who has never been a fan of brie, loved it! He actually asked me to not “put it away quite yet” because he wanted more. Who knew? Next year, I’ll work on him giving goat cheese a chance.

This little appetizer of cheesy goodness was so quick to assemble, I did it when we returned from the ballet to see The Nutcracker.

All you need are a few ingredients, which include a wheel of brie, jellied or whole cranberry sauce in the can, fresh rosemary, candied pecans and puff pastry.

I would normally bake this in a round baker that is about the size of a wheel of brie, and serve it right in that baker. For this post, however, I placed it on a small baking sheet so I could show you how it looks all around.

I started by placing the brie on a parchment lined (not needed if you’re using the round baker) baking sheet (for easy clean up.) I then spooned a couple tablespoons of jellied cranberry sauce onto the brie. On top of that I added a sprig of chopped rosemary, a quarter cup of chopped, candied pecans and my puff pastry star. I brushed an egg wash on the star so it would brown nicely.

For the puff pastry, I thawed it per the package instructions. I then used cookie cutters to make different shapes and chose the star for this one. My husband gave me a really good suggestion on the puff pastry. He suggested having extra puff pastry shapes to put on the charcuterie board to serve with this cheese as a cracker itself. That way everyone could have a bit of puff pastry with their cheese bite. Great suggestion, Dennis! I’m definitely going to do that for Christmas Day.

I placed the brie into a preheated 400 degree oven for 12 minutes. I covered the star with a small piece of aluminum foil to stop the browning and continued to bake for 3 minutes.

Use any cracker you like or slices of baguette. You can’t go wrong!

Ingredients

• 8 ounce wheel of brie
• 2 tbsp cranberry sauce from the can
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 tbsp candied pecans
• 1 sheet of puff pastry (or two depending on how many puff pastry “crackers” you’d like)
• 1 egg (for brushing pastry shapes)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place wheel of brie in brie baker or onto parchment lined small baking sheet.
3. Spoon cranberry sauce onto wheel of brie.
4. Sprinkle chopped rosemary pecans on top.
5. Lay pastry shape on top and brush with egg wash.
6. Bake for 12 minutes. Cover pastry with small piece of foil and continue to bake 3 minutes longer.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Until next time, Kris