These brie and cranberry parcels are perfect as a starter for your Christmas dinner or as a festive appetizer. Creamy brie encased in buttery puff pastry with some sweet cranberry sauce, thyme and walnuts. These mini pies really are a deliciously festive treat.
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Brie and cranberry are a match made in heaven! We love this classic flavour combo in a good Croissant Sandwich with mushrooms. It's also great wrapped in puff pastry, I mean, almost everything is good when wrapped in puff pastry right? But brie and cranberry wrapped in pastry really is something else!
With just a few simple ingredients you can have these tasty mini tarts on the table in no time and with minimum effort. They are so easy to make, taste amazing and you will impress everyone!
These mini pies are made with pre-rolled puff pastry, saving you time when you really want to be with your guests. They're also great for using up any leftover brie or cranberry sauce. I don't know about you but I always seem to have some brie leftover after Christmas!
📝 What Do We Need?
- Puff Pastry - I use a pre-rolled puff pastry to make these. It saves time on rolling out a block of puff pastry. It's easier to divide into equal sizes too!
- Brie - I find the wedges of brie easier to use to make these, but you can use whatever brie you want.
- Cranberry Sauce - you can use any cranberry sauce (cranberry relish) for this but I recommend using a good quality one if you can.
- Thyme + Walnuts - Fresh thyme is best for this recipe and I use walnut halves that I crumble into small pieces.
🥣 How To Make It
1. Unroll the pastry then cut it into 16 equal rectangles.
2. Spread a teaspoon of cranberry sauce over one rectangle, leaving a small edge. Top with a slice of brie, a couple of thyme leaves and some crumbles walnuts.
3. Dip your finger into cold water and wet the edge of the pastry. Place a rectangle of pastry on top of the cheese. Use a fork dipped in water to seal the edges. Brush the pastry with egg wash.
4. Place the parcels on a lined baking tray. Use a sharp knife to make 3 tiny holes in each pastry then sprinkle with a little sea salt and bake until golden. Leave to cool slightly then serve!
👩🍳 Top Tips
- Puff pastry works best when it's cold, so make sure you have everything prepped before you start to make these parcels. If your pastry becomes soft and sticky when your making these pop then in the fridge to chill for a few minutes.
- Assemble the parcels on the lined baking sheet before adding the filling. This way, you won’t have to transfer the dough and risk tearing it.
- A small sprinkling of sea salt flakes added to the top of the parcels after you brush them with egg wash adds a lovely extra flavour to these pastries.
- Make sure and crumble the walnuts into small pieces, the last thing you want is someone biting into a large piece of walnut!
- These mini pies are really best served warm, not long out of the oven. You can eat them cold but for best results serve them warm.
📋Variations/Substitutions
- Swap the brie for cambembert. If you don't fancy brie and like something a little stronger then camembert will work really well.
- Want to make these more savoury? Try swapping the cranberry sauce for red onion chutney!
- Swap the thyme for rosemary or the walnuts for pecans to switch up the flavours.
📖 FAQs
Yes, you can freeze these. I would freeze them before you add the egg wash and bake them. I would cook them from frozen. They will take longer to cook so you will need to adjust the timings.
These pastries are best made fresh and eaten while still warm. However, if you have any leftovers then they should be eaten within 3 days. Keep them in the fridge once cooled.
No, leave the rind on. The rind is edible and will help the brie hold its shape. This will also stop the brie from melting out of the parcels.
🍽 How To Serve Them
These parcels are great on their own as a snack or for a light lunch. If you want to serve them as a starter then I would serve them with some rocket (arugula) or some seasonal salad leaves. They are really best served hot or warm but can be eaten cold.
🌿 More Tasty Vegetarian Appetizers
Looking for more appetizer ideas? Try my Vegetarian Sausage Rolls, they are packed with flavour and so easy to make. My Mushroom Tart also works really well as an appetizer, it's really tasty and always goes down a treat! If like me, you're a fan of mushrooms then check out my Crispy Breaded Garlic Mushrooms, one of the most popular recipes on the blog!
Brie and Cranberry Parcels Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 x 320g sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry unrolled the pastry measures in at 350mm x 230mm/14 inches x 9 inches
- 100 g (3.5oz) brie divided into 8 pieces
- 3 tablespoon cranberry sauce (cranberry relish)
- 4 walnut halves crumbled
- 2 or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme divided into 8
- 1 medium egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
Instructions
- Line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
- Break the egg into a small bowl and whisk.
- Add some cold water to a small bowl.
- Place the pastry on the lined baking tray.Cut the pastry into 16 equally sized rectangles.
- Spread 1 teaspoon of the cranberry sauce on one piece of pastry, leaving a small gap along the edges.Place one or two pieces of brie on the cranberry sauce. Sprinkle a pinch of the crumbled walnuts over the cheese. Break off a small piece of thyme and add that to the cheese.
- Dip your index finger into the cold water and run it along the edge of the pastry.Place a rectangle of pastry over the cheese and use a fork dipped in the cold water to seal the pastry. Using a sharp knife pierce through the pastry to make 3 small holes.Repeat until you have 8 parcels.
- Pop the tray in the fridge for 10 - 15 minutes.Heat the oven to 180°C/355°F fan or 200°C/395°F conventional oven.
- Take the tray out of the fridge and brush each parcel with egg wash.Sprinkle a little pinch of sea salt flakes over each parcel.Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes turning the tray halfway through cooking.The parcels are done when the pastry has puffed up and it is golden brown.Once taken out of the oven transfer to a cooling rack to cool slightly.
Notes
- Brie - I used a wedge of Brie, you may not be able to cut that into equal pieces therefore I have suggested that you add one or two pieces to each rectangle.
- Pastry - I used one Jus Rol pre-rolled chilled puff pastry sheet to make these (not an ad).
- Storing/Freezing - These pastries are best made fresh and eaten warm. I do not recommend freezing them.
- Recipe Inspiration - This recipe is inspired by and adapted from this recipe by Dairy UK.
- Nutritional Information - is calculated using an online nutrition tool and is approximate. It is based on one parcel.
- Weights and measurements - For US readers, I use Cuisipro measuring cups and spoons, and a Pyrex measuring jug for liquids. These are the industry standard. Cup/spoon volumes can differ from brand to brand, for accuracy, I recommend weighing all ingredients if possible for best results.
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