Brie Bites
If you’re looking for an easy Thanksgiving appetizer, look no further! These Brie Bites come together very quickly, are adjustable to your taste and are a crowd pleaser. My mother always makes a large Baked Brie for the holidays. She wraps the entire round of Brie with puff pastry, fills it with jam and nuts and bakes it just like that. Everyone loves it, but she would complain that it can be messy and if we cut it before it has cooled enough the cheese leaks out everywhere. So, I saw the idea of Brie Bites floating around and figured we should give them a try.
These Brie Bites were very easy to prep and I’m guessing (although I haven’t tried it yet) that you could make them ahead and freeze them — I will update once I’ve actually done that. I chose to make these with fig jam and toasted almonds, but really you could use any jam you like. My mom has made this with apricot and raspberry as well. If you don’t care for almonds you could substitute with toasted pecans. It’s pretty hard to go wrong with any combination of savory puff pastry, melted cheese and sweet jam. Try these Brie Bites this holiday season if you’re looking for something easy and impressive!
If you want some more ideas for holiday appetizers consider these tasty options that always go over well with our family:
– Pesto Palmiers
– Spinach Puffs
– The Ultimate Cheese Ball
– Sweet Red Pepper and Kalamata Olive Hummus
– Fresh Spanakopita
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
- 1 box Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, 2 sheets (defrosted)
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup fig jam
- 1 - 500 g round Brie Cheese, cut into 3/4" cubes
- 1 large egg + 1 tsp water, for egg wash
Instructions
- Lightly coat a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. Preheat the oven to 375F.
- To toast the almonds, place them in a small frying pan with the butter over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they are lightly toasted. Once browned, set aside on a paper towel lined plate.
- Cut each sheet of puff pastry into 12 squares for a total of 24 squares.
- Fit the squares of puff pastry into each muffin spot, let the access puff pastry drape over the sides of the pan.
- Place the cube of cheese into each muffin spot, top with 1/2 tsp of jam and a pinch of almonds.
- Next, pinch together the corners of the excess puff pastry to close each puff of cheese.
- Lightly coat with the egg wash and bake for approximately 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
- Don't worry! These will probably (definitely) look messy in the pan! The cheese will most likely ooze out a bit, that's ok. Allow the Brie Bites to set for about 10 minutes, then using a knife, free up the edges of each puff and carefully remove from the pan with a fork.