This post was updated on 11/21/18 with better photography

In need of a Christmas appetizer that takes a mere five minutes of prep? Make the homemade cranberry sauce up to a week before you want to make these little packets of Christmas cheer. Then all you have to do is plop some with a cube of Brie into a puff pastry and you’re ready to go!

This is so simple, it’s hardly even fair to call it a recipe. I will say though, this would not be nearly the same with canned cranberry sauce so I must insist on homemade! Make the cranberry sauce a week in advance and let it hang out in the fridge. Then all you have to do is spoon it on top when you’re getting ready for your party. So easy!

Cranberry Brie Bites
1 package puff pastry, thawed
8 oz Brie cheese
1 cup homemade cranberry sauce (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray two muffin tins with nonstick spray.
3. Unwrap puff pastry and set sheets on a cutting board. Cut each sheet into nine squares. You’ll have eighteen squares total. Gently press each square into a muffin cavity.
4. Cube the cheese into 18 squares. Place one square into each puff pastry. Add a dollop of cranberry sauce on top of the brie.
5. Bake in preheated oven for ten minutes or until lightly browned.
6. Cool ten minutes before serving. Enjoy!

The Rose Table’s Cranberry Sauce
1 12-oz bag fresh cranberries
2/3 cup each freshly squeezed orange juice and water
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla

1. In a medium saucepan, boil cranberries, orange juice, and water for three minutes.
2. Add orange zest, lemon zest, and sugar; return to a boil. Cook two minutes or until most of the cranberries have cooked down.
3. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
4. Pour into a container and cover surface directly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold.

I’m so cavalier about this recipe, I usually throw it together when my first guest arrives.

Note: This recipe is easily doubled, as the cranberry sauce makes about twice as much as you need for the cranberry brie bites. Just buy 1 pound of brie and 2 packages of puff pastry and you’re all set for 36 packets of Christmas joy!

Merry Christmas,

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