EASY AND CROWD-WOWING HOLIDAY APPETIZER: CRANBERRY HONEY-BRIE BITES
If you’ve never experienced the magical combination of cranberry and brie, it’s equivalent to the most decadent adult version of peanut butter and jelly. Run, don’t walk to collect the ingredients for this quick and easy cranberry bites recipe.
Take a break from all the pumpkin spice madness and make these delectable little bites for your next fall get-together, or as a last-minute entertaining holiday appetizer.
For The Dough
We like to use flaky store-bought crescent roll dough for these quick and tasty brie bites. The whole recipe uses five ingredients or less, and comes together rather effortlessly. The crescent dough provides a superbly buttery and flaky bed to rest the little bites of brie on. Using the crescent dough will allow you to get to work right away as you can pop the tube open and immediately start rolling.
Another great option is to use frozen puff pastry dough. The impressive puff will blanket the brie nicely and produce a beautiful finished product. When using store-bought puff pastry dough, be sure to work quickly with it. Once it has thawed slightly you can begin rolling it out while still making sure to keep the dough cool at all times. Puff pastry dough is referred to as a laminated dough. This style of dough simply means that there are alternating layers of butter or fat folded in with the dough. The immense amount of butter used to make this dough is what puts the puff in puff pastry. This is the reason it’s so important to make sure the dough never gets too warm. If it gets too warm prior to baking you’ll just have a flat mess on your hands instead of an impressive puff.
For the adventurous bakers out there, you can attempt to tackle this luscious laminated dough from scratch. Traditionally, puff pastry dough is made using a combination of cake flour, bread flour, cold water, and butter. In some instances, yeast would be added to the dough mixture as with croissants and danish.
Once the dough comes together, it should be left to rest. During this resting period, you would then prepare your large slab of butter, also referred to as the roll-in. Both the dough and the roll-in should take on a rectangular shape of similar size as they will be sealed together and then folded multiple times throughout this procedure. This first step of locking in the butter is essential and keeping the dough and the butter chilled every step of the way is crucial as well. If the butter gets too warm the dough will absorb it instead of it being its own distinct layer. In the end, this would leave your dough with an unpleasant rubbery or gluey texture and void of all those highly sought-after flaky layers. As the name suggests, the actual lamination comes in when you start to roll out and fold the dough to create alternating layers of dough and unctuous butter. Making this dough is truly a labor of love.
Understandably making your own puff pastry dough is quite the undertaking. As we said before, store-bought will work beautifully here and save you an enormous amount of time. Many professional kitchens don’t find it very cost-effective to make their own puff pastry dough and still create beautiful dishes with the frozen stuff.
Puff pastry dough can be used for so many different applications: sweet, savory, and anything in between. If you ever find yourself wanting the dough to puff in certain areas but not in others you will need to apply a simple technique called docking to the area where puffing is not preferred. There are special tools out there that exist for the sole purpose of poking holes in the dough to allow the steam to escape, but a simple kitchen fork will absolutely do the trick.
For The Filling
The star of the show of course is the soft, spreadable, and creamy brie cheese. Brie is a mild-flavored cow’s milk French cheese that is best served at room temperature or baked to experience its ideal texture. There are a few different types of brie on the market. Brie de Meaux, Brie de Melun, Brie noir, Double- and triple-crème brie, and Herbed brie. They each have their own delightful qualities. Don’t shy away from the rind of the brie cheese. It is absolutely meant to be eaten. It’s part of the charm of this subtly satisfying cheese. It also adds an unmistakable and complementary flavor that any true cheese lover wouldn’t miss.
You can use store-bought cranberry sauce or make your own fresh cranberry orange compote to elevate this appetizer. A compote is just a fancy way of saying fruit cooked down in a flavored syrup. Since fresh cranberries are in season and they pair so well with oranges, you can put your culinary skills to the test and create this amazing compote. Simply combine the fresh cranberries with some orange juice, orange zest, sugar, and water and, in no time, you’ll have a compote that provides a delightfully sweet and tart balance to top brie.
Alternatively to the cranberry compote, you could use store-bought fig jam or whip up a quick one on your own. If you choose to make the jam, it’s no more complicated than the compote. It can come together with less than five ingredients and we would highly recommend reserving some of the fresh figs to garnish the top of the brie bites to make for an impressive presentation.
Drizzling the top of the warm brie bites with honey offers a nice sweet finish, but all honey is not created equally. Since there are so few components that make up this recipe, you’ll want to make sure you’re choosing quality ingredients. Believe it or not, there is some imposter honey out there. An easy way to test if your honey is the real deal is to drop some into a glass of water. If it sinks to the bottom and doesn’t dissolve into the water you’ve got the good stuff. Fake honey would easily disintegrate in the water without being stirred.
Tips & Tricks
For an even more impressive way to display this dish at your next gathering, consider keeping the brie wheel whole, slathering the top with a homemade cranberry compote, wrap it all up like a gift in puff pastry, and present it as the centerpiece of the table. Garnish it with more of the cranberry compote, honey, and rosemary on top, and wait for the oohs and aahs to start rolling in.
Impress Your Guests This Holiday Season!
BigOven Kitchen Original Recipe:
Cranberry Honey-Brie Bites
