Christmas Brie Recipe

This Christmas Brie recipe is the perfect holiday appetizer combining buttery brie cheese with sweet fig jam and nutty candied pecans in puff pastry.

Why this is the best Brie recipe

If you have made Baked Brie in Puff Pastry before you know it is a showstopper appetizer.

When you bake a whole wheel of brie in puff pastry, the cheese oozes out of the pastry casing and can be quite messy.

This appetizer solves the problem with using puff pastry shells. You will get the best of baked brie in individual size bites.

Ingredients you will need

For this recipe we will use puff pastry sheets, brie cheese, fig jam, candied pecans and thyme springs for garnish.

How to bake brie cheese

In this recipe you will bake the puff pastry shells and cool them down before adding the brie slices.

Since this recipe uses small amounts of brie, baking the cheese takes 5 minutes to get that melty, oozy cheese.

Brie is a very soft and buttery cheese that melts quickly. This recipe only requires you to bake the shells and assemble the cheese and jam.

You will notice I found a brie log, it was my first time seeing that at the store and I loved how easy it was to slice the cheese and that it fit perfectly in the pastry shells.

You can use the wheel or wedge of brie that is typically found at the store, you will just need to slice it into squares that fit the puff pastry shells.

Another option is to find the brie bites that come in individually wrapped portions. These are a little thicker and you could slice them in half creating 2 rounds of cheese.

After you bake the shells, you will place the brie, jam and nuts and cover with the pastry top.

Then you will take the stuffed shells back in the oven to melt the brie.

These are best when enjoyed immediately as the cheese will be melty and warm.

Tips to make this appetizer a success

When baking the puff pastry make sure to get a nice golden brown color, this will make the process of removing the top of the pastry easier.

My puff pastry got a pretty good rise and the shells were tall and puffy, this allowed me to be able to stuff them with more cheese and jam.

If using a log of brie, you can easily double this recipe. I had about ½ log left. I could also have sliced the brie a little thicker.

Don't skip the extra time in the warm oven. This is what melts the brie and makes this appetizer so rich and delicious; 5 to 10 minutes in the oven is perfect.