Cranberry Baked Brie

My family has been making this cranberry baked Brie for years. Found in the appetizer chapter of an 80s-era Junior League of Pasadena cookbook, it’s a holiday appetizer that makes an appearance at every extended family gathering. So much so that my sister-in-law, mom and sister might ask each other, “who’s making the cranberry brie?” When I moved to San Francisco from New York a couple years after college, my roommate and I would make this to serve at parties and wow all our 20-something friends. We loved it so much that one night we made it for dinner and ate the whole thing ourselves. Oh, to be 24 again!

Frozen puff pastry is easy to work with if you let it thaw in the refrigerator. Keep it cool until you roll it out and the oven should be preheated and ready to go. No need to excessively roll out the dough before you fill it with brie and cranberry sauce. Roll the puff pastry just enough to elongate it a tiny bit and seal the seams.When the cold butter in the dough hits a hot oven, it  steams and puffs and creates all those delicious pockets of goodness. If you’d like to speed things up, use the convection setting on your oven and the brie will bake in a third of the time.

We’ve made this baked brie with store bought cranberry relish or even canned whole berry sauce, but I like it best with my homemade Meyer lemon cranberry sauce. My cranberry recipe will make more sauce than you need for the baked brie, but the extra is delicious on top of steel cut oats with some sliced almonds for crunch.

Serve with a Prosecco pomegranate spritz and a big ol’ cheeseboard and warm olives at your next holiday gathering.  And if you decide to make it for dinner, I won’t tell a soul!