Baked Brie in Puff Pastry — Warm melted cheese, layered with cranberry sauce, and baked in flaky puff pastry is a crowd FAVORITE appetizer! Fast and EASY for you, IRRESISTIBLE for everyone else! It’s the PERFECT holiday appetizer for Thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday parties, or New Year’s Eve!
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Easy Baked Brie in Puff Pastry
Calling all cheese fanatics, this baked brie with puff pastry is the holiday appetizer recipe that you won’t be able to walk away from!
I am a huge fan of baked brie. I have three other recipes for baked brie on my site for it with a paired with various fruits including Baked Brie with Cranberries, Baked Brie with Currants, and Baked Brie with Balsamic Cherries.
But if you want to get your gooey melted cheese and flaky, crispy, warm bread all in one then you need to make this brie wrapped in puff pastry with a layer of cranberry sauce in the middle!
It’s pure comfort food and it’s also a crowd favorite appetizer recipe. People always love it and it’s a cinch to make and comes together quickly and with no fuss. That’s the best kind of appetizer!
Seriously all you need to do is slice a wheel of brie cheese in half, add cranberry sauce between the two halves, seal it up inside puff pastry, chill it, and bake if off.
I like to serve mine with crackers and slices of apples and pears.
No matter what you serve it with, this easy baked brie wrapped in puff pastry is sure to be a hit at your fall and winter events whether it’s a more casual get-together, before your big Thanksgiving or Christmas meals, or as something to nibble on at your New Year’s Eve party.
Ingredients in Baked Brie with Puff Pastry
To make this easy baked brie cheese in puff pastry, you only need a handful of common and easy to find fridge and pantry ingredients including the following:
- Puff pastry
- Wheel of brie cheese
- Cranberry sauce
- Orange zest
- Egg
- Water
- Crackers, for serving
- Apple or pear slices, for serving
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
What Kind Of Puff Pastry Should I Use for This Recipe?
There’s a golden standby that you should be able to find all year long in the freezer case of most well-stocked grocery stores and that’s Pepperidge Farm.
If your grocery store has a generic or store brand, it’ll be fine. Unlike pie crust, I don’t find too much variation in puff pastry from name brand to store brand and the store brand will be cheaper.
During the holidays, most (not all) Trader Joe’s seasonally stock puff pastry. If you can find it there, grab it there because it’ll be about half the price of Pepperidge Farm.
Puff pastry is usually sold in a long skinny box containing two folded up frozen sheets of puff pastry. You only need one of them for this recipe.
You can make this Puff Pastry Pizza with the other sheet. A family-favorite fast and easy meal!
Puff Pastry Tip
Make sure to let it thaw completely before unfolding it and don’t force it to unfold it if it’s not completely thawed because it’ll rip.
What Kind of Cranberry Sauce Should I Use?
You can use homemade cranberry sauce if you have some on hand. Or make some anyway just for this recipe.
Most homemade cranberry sauce requires very little active work time and just simmers away for about 30 minutes, making them super easy and low maintenance.
I have a few homemade cranberry sauce recipes:
- Cabernet Cranberry and Blueberry Sauce – Move over, boring cranberry sauce! Cranberries are so much better with blueberries and wine! Make your own fresh cranberry and blueberry sauce in 30 minutes. It’s so easy, everyone loves it, a hands-down Averie Cooks reader favorite for almost a decade!
- Spiced Cranberry Sauce with Apples – Fast and easy homemade cranberry sauce that’s made with cranberries, apples, apple cider, cinnamon sticks, and allspice. A lovely balance of sweet-yet-tart with warmly spiced flavors!
- Cabernet Cranberry and Currant Sauce – Make your own easy homemade cranberry sauce in 30 minutes! This unique cranberry sauce recipe is especially great because of the wine!
- Cranberry Pineapple Mango Preservatives – Much more uniquely flavorful than traditional cranberry sauce from the addition of pineapple, mango, cinnamon, and ginger, which sweetly spice and enhance fresh cranberries and made in just half an hour!
Store-bought is also fine. If you’re going this route, opt for a tried-and-true cranberry sauce that you know you like. The chunkier the better, in my opinion. Whole berry is best.
Cranberry Sauce Tip
Whatever cranberry sauce you use, I recommend only using the thickest and chunkiest parts of the sauce. If it’s watery, drain off the water and opt for the thickest part of the sauce. You don’t want excess water literally water-logging the puff pastry wrapper for the brie and making it soggy.
How to Make Brie Wrapped in Puff Pastry
To make one of my personal favorite appetizers — because I could live off brie alone — follow my basic and straightforward steps and this easy baked brie in puff pastry will be ready in 30 minutes!
Step 1: Unfold the puff pastry onto a clean countertop.
Step 2: Slice the wheel of brie in half horizontally and lay the bottom half in the middle of the puff pastry.
Step 3: Stir the orange zest into the cranberry sauce.
Step 4: Spoon nearly all the cranberry sauce over the brie and smooth it out with a spoon. Reserve 2 tablespoons cranberry sauce for serving.
Step 5: Place the other half of the brie on top, like a sandwich.
Step 6: Beat the egg and water together to create an egg wash.
Step 7: Fold one corner of the puff pastry up and into the center on top of the brie and brush the egg wash over that corner.
Step 8: Fold up the next corner and edge, and brush it with egg wash, and repeat until all the puff pastry has been folded over the brie.
Step 9: Place the brie bundle on a pan or plate lined with parchment and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Step 10: After 20 minutes into the freezer session, preheat your oven to 425F.
Step 11: On a Silpat lined or parchment lined baking sheet, bake the brie wrapped in puff pastry for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden browned, remove, and rest for 5 minutes.
Step 12: Spoon 2 tablespoons cranberry sauce over the top of the baked brie in the middle and serve immediately with crackers, fruit slices, or your favorite dippers!
Recipe FAQs
No, this brie puff pastry appetizer is best eaten immediately after it comes out of the oven. I don’t recommend trying to save and reheat any that’s leftover.
Yes and no. If you are a major fan of baked brie with cranberry sauce, minus the puff pastry, go ahead and make my Cranberry Baked Brie! It’s awesome, and super similar to this baked brie with puff pastry recipe but there’s no puff pastry. However, if you want to make the intended recipe, you do need to use puff pastry.
If you can find a large wheel of brie, about 12 to 14 ounces, that’s perfect for this recipe. You will slice it in half horizontally and smear cranberry sauce in the middle of the halves, wrap in the puff pastry, and bake.
Alternatively, you can also use two 8-ounce wheels of brie, no slicing horizontally is necessary. Simply stack them on top of each other, with the cranberry sauce in the middle, wrap up in puff pastry, and bake.
Yes! Select brie with the rind which is the common way it’s sold. At home, don’t try to trim off any of the rind. It’s not necessary to do so and actually disadvantageous since without the rind the brie is prone to melting, everywhere.
Some melting is good, but without the rind to add a bit of structure or “retaining walls”, the brie will free-fall melt all over, which isn’t what we want for an appetizer.
You may think it’s odd that after wrapping up the brie inside the puff pastry, that I instruct you to place the bundle in the freezer. That’s because puff pastry is made with a lot of butter or vegetable fats, and just like an all-butter pie crust that bakes up puffier, flakier, and lighter when you’re working with very cold dough, it’s the same principle here. Line your plate or whatever you’re using to freeze the brie bundle on with parchment paper so it doesn’t stick.
Scientifically, the cold bits of butter or fat will steam in the very hot oven, creating air bubbles which in turn creates the texture sensation of having really flaky and light layers and this is why we want to start with very cold puff pastry.
What to Serve with Brie in Puff Pastry
I like to serve mine with crackers. The crackers in the photos are Multigrain Breton.
My personal favorite crackers, for this dip and in general. include:
- Trader Joe’s Trail Mix Crackers. I bought these on a whim about a year and a half ago and I get everyone who tries them with me hooked on them too! A perfect mix of seeds and nuts and dried fruit “embedded” onto thin (but not too thin) and crispy crackers.
- Trader Joe’s Rosemary Raisin Crisps (yearlong) or Pumpkin Cranberry Crisps (fall holidays, seasonal) and sometimes before Christmas they get a Pomegranate flavor that’s in a fuchsia colored box although it’s been a couple seasons now that I’ve seen it.
You can also serve the baked brie appetizer recipe with thinly sliced red or green apples or firm pears sliced thinly.
Tips for the Best Baked Brie in Puff Pastry
This really is such a fast and easy appetizer recipe that everyone loves year-round but especially so during the holidays. To make sure you impress your guests with the best baked brie in puff pastry, I’ve got a few extra tips and pointers.
Selecting Your Cranberry Sauce
As I already mentioned, I would personally make a batch of homemade cranberry sauce to use in this festive appetizer recipe although store bought will also work.
Whatever you do, make sure to use the chunky parts and whole-cranberry parts of the cranberry sauce so that you’re not adding water or unnecessary moisture to the puff pastry which will just sog it down. It’s impossible to have flaky layer with unwanted moisture present.
Using the Extra Puff Pastry
If you are a creative person and like to get decorative and have some extra time on your hands, you can use the second sheet of puff pastry that comes in the box and cut out decorative shapes like leaves. Check out this photo with the leaves arranged around the top. A little tricky to fully make out because they do puff in the oven, but I wanted to reference it.
I did this with extra pie crust in my recent Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
You can see the decorations I made. Using cookie cutters, cut out a few leaf shapes, add them to the top of the puff pastry bundle with the brie and cranberry sauce inside before you freeze it so they stick and adhere, and then just bake as indicated, about 20 to 25 minutes. They’ll puff up super cute and full in the oven!
Sealing the Puff Pastry
Don’t worry too much about exactly how you get it sealed. You don’t have to make hospital corners or anything with the dough. Just make sure it gets tightly sealed around the cheese to contain the cheese when it starts to melt during baking.
Using an Egg Wash – The egg wash helps create a golden browned color, as well as helping the pastry to adhere or “stick” to itself a bit better.
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Baked Brie in Puff Pastry
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
- one 12 to 14 ounce wheel of brie, halved horizontally with rind kept on (or two 8-inch wheels may be substituted; do not halve them just use as-is)
- 1 cup cranberry sauce, divided (chunky, whole berry sauce is best)*
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon water
- Crackers, for serving
- Apple and/or firm pear slices, for serving
Instructions
- Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry after it's completely thawed. Don't force it if it's not because it will crack or rip. Place it on a clean countertop or work surface.
- If you're using a large 12 to 14 ounce wheel of brie, slice it in halve horizontally and place the bottom half in the center of the puff pastry. If you're using two 8-ounce wheels, you don't need to halve either one of them. Simply place one of the wheels in the center of the puff pastry.
- Top the brie with 1 cup (minus 2 tablespoons) of cranberry sauce*, orange zest, and smooth it over the top of the brie leaving a bare 1/2-margin around the perimeter. Reserve the 2 tablespoons for serving.
- Top with the remaining brie half, or the other intact wheel if using two 8-ounce wheels; set aside.
- Whisk together the egg and water.
- Fold one corner of the puff pastry up into the middle and over the top of the center of the brie.
- Brush the egg wash over the folded corner.
- Then fold up the next corner and edge, brushing with egg wash. Repeat until all the puff pastry has been folded over the brie. Tips - It doesn't have to be perfect. You don't have to create hospital corners. You do want to be mindful that the puff pastry is tightly sealed around the brie so when it starts to melt in the oven, the puff pastry will contain it so the cheese doesn't leak out. The egg wash serves to help both enhance the browning of the puff pastry so it develops a nice golden brown color, and also helps the puff pastry adhere to itself a bit better.
- Optionally, if you want to take the second sheet of puff pastry (make sure its thawed) and make cut out leaf shapes and place them on top of the brie, brushing them with egg wash so they adhere and turn golden, this is an optional creative touch. See how I did this with extra pie crust in my recent Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting to get an idea.
- Take your bundle of puff pastry and brie and set it on a plate or something it can rest on in your freezer and freeze it for 30 minutes. Line with parchment if you think it could stick. Do not skip this step of freezing because freezing helps chill the dough which will help it to bake up flakier, lighter, and crisper in the oven so do not omit this.
- After about 20 minutes of freezing, preheat your oven to 425F.
- Remove it from the oven, allow it to rest for about 5 minutes, and before serving top with the reserved 2 tablespoons cranberry sauce. Serve immediately. Baked brie is best served hot and fresh and this is not a recipe where the leftovers keep particularly well.
Notes
- Cabernet Cranberry and Blueberry Sauce – Move over, boring cranberry sauce! Cranberries are so much better with blueberries and wine! Make your own fresh cranberry and blueberry sauce in 30 minutes. It’s so easy, everyone loves it, a hands-down Averie Cooks reader favorite for almost a decade!
- Spiced Cranberry Sauce with Apples - Fast and easy homemade cranberry sauce that’s made with cranberries, apples, apple cider, cinnamon sticks, and allspice. A lovely balance of sweet-yet-tart with warmly spiced flavors!
- Cabernet Cranberry and Currant Sauce – Make your own easy homemade cranberry sauce in 30 minutes! This unique cranberry sauce recipe is especially great because of the wine!
- Cranberry Pineapple Mango Preservatives – Much more uniquely flavorful than traditional cranberry sauce from the addition of pineapple, mango, cinnamon, and ginger, which sweetly spice and enhance fresh cranberries and made in just half an hour!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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