Easy Cranberry Baked Brie Recipe: Fancy and delicious 15-minute holiday appetizer your guests would love. Creamy, gooey, runny-centered baked brie topped with cranberry sauce, roasted pecans and thyme.
For those of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving, you probably have to deal with leftovers on the next day. Here is a tip for you: Turn your leftover cranberry sauce into a fancy appetizer!
Here is what you’ll need:
- brie/camembert in a wooden box;
- leftover (or freshly made) cranberry sauce/lingonberry sauce;
- thyme;
- honey;
- pecans;
- crusty baguette/ciabatta bread to serve.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? And it is as easy as it sounds. 15 minutes, no cooking involved, simple ingredients you probably already have.
Although I am not American, I enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. This year it coincided with my son’s 11th month birthday, so we celebrated both occasions with a big dinner. Not that my son could enjoy it but my husband and I certainly did!
So here is what I cooked for us:
- vegetarian pot pie;
- ciabatta bread stuffing;
- potato dauphinoise;
- kale pumpkin salad;
- cranberry sauce;
- Moscow Mule with homemade ginger ale (I will post the recipe soon, so you can have it for Christmas!);
- pumpkin pie;
- cranberry baked brie with thyme and pecans.
Although everything came out delicious and looked pretty even for a very self-critical person like me, I managed to drop the baked brie when I was taking it out of the oven. It flipped over and landed on the oven door. My heart broke at that moment, but my husband managed to save the brie before it oozed out of the wooden box. What a relief!
Not to repeat my mistakes, please make sure you use a large spatula when you take your baked brie out of the oven! Oven mitts won’t really work here, or even if they do, they will make it too risky! But who wants to risk when it comes to a gooey cranberry baked brie, right? Not me, not any more.
Besides of that little accident, our Thanksgiving dinner couldn’t be better! I can’t wait my son to join our celebrations next year. Hopefully, he would be able to enjoy it more than this year.
I will surely make this cranberry baked brie again for Christmas! Who is with me, cheese fans?
How to Make Easy Cranberry Baked Brie with Thyme
The recipe is very easy if you already have the cranberry sauce. If not, you can make it yourself within minutes. I took equal parts of cranberries and lingonberries for my sauce. I like it the most this way.
Tart and slightly sweet lingonberries (or mountain cranberries) are probably hard to find outside Scandinavia and Russia. It might be a good idea to check your local Russian store. Lingonberries are usually sold frozen. You can order them here if you are in the U.S. or purchase a ready made lingonberry jam from Ikea (they have it on Amazon!)
Lingonberries are not only delicious, they also have so many health benefits that they are considered a new superfood! It makes them worth to try if you haven’t yet.
To make the cranberry/ lingonberry sauce, use 1/4 cup water and 2 tablespoons brown sugar for every cup of berries. I used 50:50 ratio cranberries and lingonberries but you can use any. Just make sure you add the right amount of water.
In a small saucepan bring 1/4 cup water with 2 tablespoons brown sugar to a boil over medium heat. Add the berries and thyme sprigs and cook until the berries burst open, for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Crush the unburst berries with a potato masher. Discard the thyme sprigs.
I like to add additional spices to the cranberry sauce. This year I added nutmeg, allspice and a tiny bit of lemon zest. If the sauce is too sour for your taste, add additional honey.
Once the sauce is ready, bake your brie. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 180 C, remove all the plastic packaging from the brie and place the brie wheel into a wooden box it comes with. Bake for 15 minutes.
Top the baked brie with cranberry sauce, roasted pecans and drizzle with honey. Decorate with thyme sprigs. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Enjoy with crusty baguette or ciabatta bread!
Here is the full recipe:
Easy Cranberry Baked Brie with Thyme
Ingredients
For the cranberry sauce:
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 cup lingonberries/cranberries
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- a pinch of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest optional
- honey to taste
For the baked brie:
- 9 oz or 250 grams brie wheel
- a handful pecans roasted
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 sprigs thyme to garnish
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- crusty baguette or ciabatta bread to serve
Instructions
For the cranberry sauce:
- In a small saucepan bring water with brown sugar to a boil over medium heat. Add the berries and thyme sprigs and cook until the berries burst open, for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Crush the unburst berries with a potato masher. Discard the thyme sprigs. Add the spices, lemon juice and zest and honey if the sauce is too sour for your taste.
For the baked brie:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 180 C, remove all the plastic packaging from the brie and place the brie wheel into a wooden box it comes with. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Top the baked brie with cranberry sauce, roasted pecans and drizzle with honey. Decorate with thyme sprigs. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Enjoy with crusty baguette or ciabatta bread!
This appetizer works best for me when there is a small group of people visiting – always a hit on the table. Yum.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Helena! It;s indeed perfect for entertaining 🙂
Oh I love brie! So much melty, gooey goodness. This would be gone in minutes in my house!
I know right? My husband nearly ate it all alone 😀 Thank you Karyl!
I love baked brie, I never thought to use cranberries, this looks great!
Thanks so much Tina!
This is my kind of party app! Love the addition of fresh thyme here. Sounds like an amazing combo!
It was so delicious I keep making it for every holiday ;D Thank you Ashley!
Those pecans and cranberries look sooooo delicious on top! What a fantastic addition!
Thank you Kate! Love the crunch they give to the cheese 🙂
My heart stood still when I saw the cheese melting and oozing in your pictures above with the thyme and cranberry… I can taste all the flavors on my tongue right now. yum =D
Haha thank you Helene! I was sure you’d love this one 😉
Baked brie with cranberry is one of my absolute favorite thing for special occasions especially when you have guest. The pecans sound perfect.
Thank you Veena! True that, guests are always impressed but it’s an almost no effort appetizer. Glad you like it!
Baked brie or camembert, always look so decadent and fancy. Add the festive cranberries and pecans and it is a stunning holiday appetizer!
Glad you like the recipe Nicoletta! Thank you!
Perfect for the holidays. Between the cranberries and brie it’s a decadent and a unique appetizer.
Thank you Sharon!
This looks like such a luxurious treat!
Thank you Ben!
These flavors sound absolutely incredible ! Oh and the brie looks so creamy- cannot wait to try this!
Thank you Jessica! I hope you enjoy it!
I had something similar to this last night at a staff party…until I dropped it all on my foot 🙁 So I didn’t actually have it, except for the crusted cranberries on my foot. Better make some myself to make up for it.
Oh no! I can feel you pain! Hope you can make some for Christmas to make up for it 😉
I absolutely love serving baked brie during the holidays! It’s always so well enjoyed by guests, and is easy to make with busy holiday schedules. I love the flavors you’ve used in the cranberry sauce for this! Such a great blend of savory and sweet.
Thank you so much Amanda! It’s been a hit during holidays in my house too. Super easy but looks and tastes impressive 😉