This cranberry baked brie recipe is one of the easiest appetizers you can throw together, and it’s such a showstopper. This is a gorgeous and delicious treat for Thanksgiving dinner, a holiday party, or if you’re like me, it’s perfect to dip crackers in while you watch Netflix. Keep reading for tips, tricks, and fun facts about this favorite little festive appetizer of mine.
What is Brie?
Brie is a mild, soft cheese originating from the Seine-Et-Marne region of France. You can eat it cold, room temperature, or baked, and tastes amazing with desserts, fruit, and jam. When baked in the oven, The rind surrounding the cheese holds the melted brie in the middle and oozes out once you cut into the top rind. When melted, you can dip crackers, apple slices, baguette slices, etc.
Fun fact: It has a nickname in Europe as the “Queen of cheeses”, as it was served to royalty for several hundred years. In fact, brie dates all the way back to the 8th century. Crazy, right?!
Cooking methods
When making brie, you can either bake in the oven or heat in the microwave. When baking, I like to put the brie in a shallow, oven-safe dish that is relatively bigger than the brie (pie dish, cast iron skillet, etc). This way, you don’t have to transfer the flimsy, hot brie to another plate, and you can surround it with crackers or bread, and let it ooze into the dish. Alternatively, you can place the cold brie on some parchment paper and microwave for two to three minutes. Then, you can transfer it to a charcuterie board or platter and surround it with the fixings of your choice.
What makes this the best baked brie recipe
The spiced, sweet cranberry sauce is full of flavorful warm spices, which pairs perfectly with the mild brie. This cranberry baked brie recipe is perfect for the holiday season, especially if you have some leftover homemade cranberry sauce to use up. You can also sprinkle some candied pecans on top for some added texture! For this recipe, I made a homemade spiced cranberry sauce, which I placed on top of the brie after it came out of the oven. Click here to view my homemade spiced cranberry sauce recipe, or keep reading for full detail.
Storing leftover brie
Given you’d actually have any leftover, baked brie can be refrigerated in a container for up to two weeks. When reheating, it can be microwaved at 30 second intervals. If you are reheating in the oven, bake on a low heat (200-250) and wrap entirely in foil for about 15 minutes. If you want the best texture, pour a little bit of water in the bottom of the pan to create steam.
When you are storing before baking, brie will be good in the refrigerator up to two weeks and in the freezer up to three months. Just thaw out completely in the fridge before using.
Cranberry Baked Brie
Equipment
- shallow pan or dish
Ingredients
- 1 Brie wheel
Spiced Cranberry Sauce
- 12 oz bag of fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- pinch of orange zest optional
Instructions
Brie
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- In a pie dish, cast iron skillet, or other shallow oven-safe dish, bake brie for 15-20 minutes, or until the top feels soft.
Spiced Cranberry Sauce
- In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil.
- Turn the burner down to med-low and let it simmer until the sauce thickens (the cranberries should burst and deflate by this point).
- Once thickened, you can spoon the cranberry sauce onto the baked brie.
Notes
- The brie and the cranberry sauce take roughly the same amount of time to make. I would start with the cranberry sauce though if you are making them both at the same time to serve.
- Cranberry sauce is a great make-ahead recipe! It stays good in the fridge for about two weeks.
- If the cranberry sauce isn’t thickening for whatever reason, bring it back up to a boil for a minute or two and then down to a simmer.
- When baking brie, I personally like to bake it in a larger shallow dish (cast iron skillet, pie dish), so that I can surround it with crackers, or other dipping arrangements and don’t have to transfer a wobbly brie right out of the oven.
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