This baked Brie stuffed with cranberries is an easy holiday appetizer that pairs creamy, melted Brie cheese with sweet-tart cranberry chutney, and enrobes the whole shebang in puff pastry.
This baked brie with cranberry chutney is our update to a holiday entertaining classic. It’s perfect to prepare in advance and still wow friends and family when it comes out of the hot oven.
Cranberry, citrus, and Dijon mustard are all great matches for dairy. These ingredients are naturally bitter and acidic, putting them at odds with delicate milk…unless it’s in the form of cheese. This recipe can be prepared up to the point of just before baking, as much as a day in advance, and refrigerated until you’re ready to bake. It can go directly from the refrigerator to the oven. –James Briscione and Brooke Parkhurst
☞ Contents
Why Our Testers Loved This
Our testers are calling this Thanksgiving-inspired baked brie an “immensely satisfying recipe”, and a perfect start to a holiday meal. We couldn’t agree more.
Notes on Ingredients
- Cranberries–You can use fresh or frozen cranberries for the chutney. If using frozen, you don’t need to defrost them, but you may need to add a few extra minutes to the cooking time.
- Brie–This will work with either the smaller 8-ounce or larger 13-ounce brie wheels, or any size in between. You could also substitute camembert. If using a smaller wheel, you may need to trim your puff pastry to fit.
How to Make This Recipe
- Make the cranberry chutney. If making the chutney, combine the berries, apple, sugar, spices, and orange zest and juice in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook until thickened. Season to taste and store in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
- Stuff the brie wheel. Slice the brie wheel in half horizontally (like a bun), and spread the chutney over the bottom half. Top with the other brie round.
- Wrap in pastry. Roll out the puff pastry, set the stuffed brie on top, and fold the corners of the pastry around the cheese to completely encase it. Chill for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush with egg.
- Bake until golden and the cheese is melted. Let cool slightly before serving.
FAQs
What should I serve with baked brie?
The authors suggest serving it with additional cranberry chutney on the side and, if desired, nuts and dried fruit. You could also serve it as part of a charcuterie board, or with some crackers or crostini on the side for scooping up the cheese.
Can I make this in advance?
The chutney can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. The brie can be stuffed and wrapped in pastry up to 1 day before baking. Store it in the refrigerator, covered loosely with plastic wrap, until ready to bake.
How can I tell when my baked brie is ready?
The pastry should be golden brown and flaky, and the tip of a knife should slip in easily and come out with melted cheese clinging to it. If you meet resistance, give it a few more minutes for the cheese to melt fully.
Helpful Tips
- To save time, skip making the chutney, and purchase a store-bought variety. Our testers found that Stonewall Kitchen Apple Cranberry Chutney worked well in the recipe.
- If you are making chutney, note that it will thicken as it cools. Leftover chutney can be served alongside roast turkey or saved to schmear on leftover turkey cranberry sandwiches.
- When rolling out the puff pastry, place it between two sheets of parchment paper to avoid the pastry sticking to your rolling pin. Remove the top sheet, assemble the baked brie on the bottom sheet and use the sheet to transfer it directly to your baking sheet.
- Avoid overlapping the pastry corners too much when wrapping your brie wheel. Areas of pastry that are too thick may end up undercooked.
More great brie appetizer recipes
☞ If you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
Baked Brie Stuffed with Cranberries
Ingredients
For the cranberry chutney (or substitute store-bought)
- One bag (12 ounce) fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 (about 4 1/2 oz) Granny Smith apple grated
- 1/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Grated zest and juice of 1 orange preferably organic (about 1 tablespoon zest and 1/4 cup juice)
- 1/4 cup water
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the baked Brie
- 1 whole (8 to 13 oz) round Brie
- 1/2 cup cranberry chutney
- 1 sheet puff pastry (half of a 17.3-ounce [490-g] package) thawed if frozen
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- All-purpose flour for dusting
- 1 large egg beaten
Directions
Make the cranberry chutney (skip if using store-bought)
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cranberries, apple, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, orange zest and juice, and water, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let cool completely before using. Extra chutney can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
☞TESTER TIP: The chutney will thicken more as it cools.
Make the baked Brie
- Cut the round of Brie in half horizontally, as if you were splitting a burger bun. Lift the top off the Brie and spread the cranberry chutney over the bottom half. Replace the top.
- Place the sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Gently roll the pastry with a rolling pin so the dough becomes a square about 12 inches (30 cm) on each side.
- Spoon the mustard on the center of the pastry. Using a pastry brush or the back of a spoon, spread it into a thin, even layer slightly larger than the Brie.
- Place the filled Brie in the center of the puff pastry. Cut a piece about 1-inch (25 mm) from the corners of the pastry so the shape resembles a stop sign.
- Fold in the four corners of the puff pastry so they meet in the center of the Brie. Lightly brush the dough with a little of the beaten egg where the pieces meet. Reserve the remaining egg. Fold the remaining edges into the center so that the Brie is tightly wrapped and the edges of the pastry are sealed to each other.
☞TESTER TIP: You just want the pastry to meet so the edges seal up nicely, but not overlap significantly. This can lead to undercooked pastry on the bottom. If your Brie is on the small side, you may need to trim your pastry.
- Loosely wrap the Brie in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Cover and refrigerate the remaining beaten egg as well.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- When ready to bake the Brie, place it seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the top and sides of the pastry with some of the remaining beaten egg.
- Bake until the pastry is golden brown and the cheese is soft, 28 to 35 minutes, depending on the size of your Brie wheel.
- Let the Brie cool on the pan for at least 10 minutes and then use a large spatula to delicately place it on a platter. Serve immediately, cutting it into wedges.
Notes
- Shortcuts–Use store-bought cranberry chutney.
- Make-ahead–The cranberry chutney can be made and refrigerated up to 2 weeks in advance. The stuffed brie can be wrapped in pastry and stored in the fridge, loosely covered, for up to 1 day before baking.
- Leftovers–Serve extra chutney alongside your holiday turkey or on turkey sandwiches.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Nothing kicks off the season of holiday entertainment better than puff pastry stuffed with Brie, especially if you add cranberry chutney. You can serve this recipe either as a first course or as an appetizer while family and friends chat about their lives.
You can make your own chutney or purchase one from your local grocery store. I used Wegmans’ cranberry orange chutney, which saved time in the kitchen. The puff pastry browned perfectly, making me proud to serve it to my guests, who raved about the balance of the tart flavor of the chutney to the sweetness of the cheese.
Yes, I’d make this again! Definitely. I served it with Sauvignon blanc.
This was an immensely satisfying recipe. The chutney we used had a decidedly “fall” flavor and I think this may be featured in Thanksgiving’s amuse bouche selection. The recipe yielded the crispest pastry I’ve experienced and I’ll be using this recipe as the basis for any further en croute creations. It didn’t even require crackers, we ate it with a spoon!
The only size Brie we had in the shops was 8 oz. We used Stonewall Kitchen Cranberry Apple Chutney. When rolling out the pastry, I simply placed it between 2 pieces of parchment paper and rolled out to the desired size (and saved the bottom piece of parchment to use on the baking sheet—I recently learned that placing pastry or pizza crust on parchment paper while cooking increases the crispiness immensely).
The cheese had a nap in the fridge for 3 hours. Prior to cooking, I placed it on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet, gave it an egg wash, and baked it for 28 minutes. This was plenty of time for the pastry to get super crispy and the cheese melty and gooey. For a 12-oz wheel, I’d go the whole 35 minutes.
I made this recipe twice. The first time I used shop-bought cranberry sauce and the second time I made the cranberry sauce from scratch.
On my first attempt I found the pre-rolled pastry sheet to be too big for the size of the brie wheel, meaning that there was a lot of pastry folded under the cheese, resulting in some undercooking of the pastry. After cooking the parcel, some of the cheese had oozed out. I wondered if this could have been avoided if the parcel had been cooked upside-down, but I have yet to try that.
After 30 minutes of baking, the pastry was mostly brown on the top and I cooked it for an additional 5 minutes to ensure an even color over the entire top surface of the pastry, also turning the dish around in the oven at this point.
On my second attempt, I cut the pastry sheet in half and rolled each half out to a square and encased two separate 200g Brie wheels. The pastry was easy to roll out further into a square as long as it was left at room temperature for a while. If the pastry is left out of the fridge too long it can become hard to work with.
The instructions on how to cut the pastry made sense. I refrigerated the cheese for 1 hour and brushed it quite generously with beaten egg. I found that 35 minutes cooked the pastry adequately and that the cheese was melted.
I found that the dish was lovely when warm, but less nice if eaten cold. The mustard wasn’t very noticeable when the dish was warm, but quite apparent when the dish was eaten cold. I found that even when the amount of pastry was halved in each parcel the pastry was still undercooked a little although this was not that apparent in the taste.
I have not made cranberry sauce before and I would definitely make this recipe again. I used the leftover cranberry sauce to serve with a turkey roast and later in turkey sandwiches.
I would say that this recipe would serve 4 people as a starter, or 2 people as a main course, bearing in mind that my Brie wheel was smaller than that stated. I served mine with salad to cut through the richness of the dish.
I would make this recipe again. I thought it would make a good vegetarian starter or main course for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, allowing the pastry wheels to be prepared ahead of time and left in the oven to cook while the host entertains.
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
What is the purpose of step 6-cutting stop sign shapes? Are they supposed to meet up? Act as vent holes?
Good question, Elaine. Removing a little of the pastry from each corner will mean that there isn’t an excess amount when you fold it all together and then the pastry will bake evenly.