You guys! If you need a delicious appetizer for the holidays, this is it!
I picked up a bag a fresh cranberries at the store without really knowing what I wanted to make with it. I just know that I wanted to make cranberry stuff. I had also picked up some brie. The bag of cranberries and the brie just happened to be sitting next to each other in my refrigerator and I thought Brie with cranberries…YUM!
I wanted to make my own cranberry jelly or jam since I did have a whole bag of fresh cranberries. I decided on cranberry jelly but if you want jam don’t strain the mixture at the end.
The cranberry jelly is very easy to make. Mix cranberries, sugar, water and orange juice together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat a let simmer for 20 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon gelatin and cook for 2 more minutes. Take the pan off the heat. At this point if you want jelly, strain the mixture using a fine mesh sieve. If you want jam, don’t strain and you’ll have the skins and seeds left in the mixture.
When the cranberry jelly cooled, I spread it on a small brie wheel and set aside. I unfolded one sheet of puff pastry and cut a couple inches off one end to make it a square. I plopped the brie with cranberry jelly onto the middle of the puff pastry square.
I folded the puff pastry carefully around the jelly topped brie and pinched the ends at the top.
I added a little decoration on top with the leftover puff pastry dough (the decoration didn’t stay in place well in the cooking process). I brushed an egg wash over the top and sides of the puff pastry to make sure it held together and turned a pretty brownish color.
I popped the Puff Pastry Wrapped Brie with Cranberry Jelly into the oven for 35 minutes. When I pulled this out of the oven, I let it rest for 10 minutes before digging in so I wouldn’t burn my tongue. When I first cut into the puff pastry, I noticed the jelly seemed to have melted and mixed in with the cheese and puff pastry. This was still so tasty because you could definitely still taste the cranberry jelly but don’t expect the jelly to look the same after cooking.
I love that the cranberry jelly isn’t terribly sweet. It goes perfectly with the brie and sweet puff pastry. I served my Puff Pastry Wrapped Brie with Cranberry Jelly with the remaining jelly and crackers. It was gobbled up in no time at all.
Puff Pastry Wrapped Brie with Cranberry Jelly
Ingredients
Cranberry Jelly
- 3 ½ cups fresh cranberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon pectin
For Puff Pastry wrapped Brie
- 1 small wheel of brie (I used a double crème brie)
- 1 sheet puff pastry thawed
- 1 large egg mixed
- Parchment paper
Instructions
- Mix cranberries, sugar, water and orange juice together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat a let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat. At this point if you want jelly, strain the mixture using a fine mesh sieve. If you want jam, don’t strain and you’ll have the skins and seeds left in the mixture.
- Add 1 tablespoon pectin and stir well. Set cranberry jelly aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Unfold one sheet of thawed puff pastry. Cut off about 2 inches of puff pastry at the top or bottom to create a square instead of a rectangle. You can use the piece you cut off to make decorative pieces.
- Put the puff pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Set the brie in the middle of the puff pastry square. Spread about ¼ cup of cranberry jelly on top of the brie. Wrap the jelly covered brie with the puff pastry by gently pulling a corner of the pastry towards the middle. Work your way around the brie pulling the dough up towards the middle (see pic above of wrapped brie). Pinch all the dough in the middle to keep it together.
- Once the brie is wrapped, mix one egg in a bowl with a fork until the egg white and yolk are thoroughly mixed. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg onto the puff pastry until the sides and top are covered. This will keep the pastry together and give the baked puff pastry a nice golden brown color.
- Bake Puff Pastry Wrapped Brie with Cranberry Jelly for 30 minutes. The puff pastry should be golden brown. When it’s removed from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes before eating. Serve with remaining jelly. Enjoy!