Cranberry-Nut Brie en Croute

I’m still counting this as my post for Friday even though it’s coming very late in the day. 🙂 I’m currently cozied up with a mug of cinnamon tea and tired from a long day’s work, but I had to share this with you before I hit the sack. It’s too good to hold out for another day.

This is probably one of the easiest things you can make that yields such an amazing result. It doesn’t even require cooking…more like “assembly”, and it will undoubtedly leave your guests asking for more. There are many variations of brie en croute (which basically just means brie cheese in a crust), but this version with cranberry sauce and toasted walnuts is particularly appropriate for the upcoming holidays.

The recipe is such a non-recipe that I don’t even think I’m going to make a recipage entry! I’ll just tell you the easy steps. Thaw out a sheet of puff pastry and gently roll it out onto a floured surface to make it a tad larger in size. Place a full round of brie cheese (rind removed) in the center. Spoon some fresh cranberry sauce and chopped toasted walnuts on top. (If you want to make this a smaller recipe, which is what I did here, just use half the sheet of puff pastry and cut a smaller round out of your brie…it will make a serving for 2 instead of 6)

Pull up the sides of the dough over the cheese and bake at 375 until golden brown. That’s it!

I even decided to go the extra quarter-mile and make my own fresh cranberry sauce. My foolproof recipe: equal parts orange juice and sugar, then double that amount of cranberries (so if you’re using 1/2 c. of juice and 1/2 c. sugar, do 1 c. of berries). Cook until the berries pop and the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. The combination of the tart berries and the creamy brie along with the occasional crunch of the walnuts makes for a quite a party in your mouth.

I hope you’re resting up this weekend! The big T-day draws near…

Thanks for reading!

-Lauren