The savoriness from brie cheese and sweetness from homemade cranberry sauce, these grilled brie bites are sure to bring some cheer at the next Holiday party.  These mini pastries are the perfect little appetizer.  With a few simple seasonal ingredients, these only take a few minutes to make and best of all will fill the house with warm aromatics that will have your guests filled with joy.

How to make the best cranberry sauce

Cranberry sauce is a big staple at the Thanksgiving table, but this deliciously sweet and zesty side dish can be used in easy entertaining recipes as well.  I like to add a little bit of acidity with orange zest and juice to balance the sweetness of the sugar and tartness from the cranberries.

In a sauce pan, pour in 2 cups of fresh cranberries, sugar and water.  Simmer it over low heat reducing the fruit to a jam like chunky consistency.  Add some orange zest and freshly squeezed juice from half an orange.

For some holiday spice, I added some ground cloves and half a cinnamon stick. Continue to simmer mixing in the spices together allowing the aromatics to fill your kitchen.

Once the sauce has thickened, set aside to cool while you start prep on the pastry.

Baking on the grill?  Why not!

The grill should be thought of as an everyday cooking appliance and an extension of the kitchen.  This is also true when baking. Grilled deserts come out amazing, giving off a slight hint of smokiness that bring a rustic taste and feel to an ordinary bake.

For these grilled brie bites, I used store bought crescent dough as the pastry base. I am not a baker, grilling is where my heart and passion remains.  If you have your own recipe for homemade pastry dough, go for it and make it.  I’m sure it will only enhance this recipe.

Remove the dough from its rolled package and close the perforated slots by pinching the the dough together. With a pizza or dough cutter, cut out 2×2 inch squares.  You can also punch out round circles using a 2.5 inch in diameter cup.

Next, cube up Brie cheese into small 0.5 inch squares.  Brie is a very soft cheese and will melt during the bake.  You do not want to have too much overflow as it will burn around the edges.

Time to assemble the grilled brie bites.  Take a mini muffin pan and cover with cooking spray.  In each pocket, place 1 piece of pastry dough followed by a piece of brie cheese and cover with a teaspoon of the homemade cranberry sauce you made earlier.

Preheat the grill to 350 degrees for indirect heat and bake for about 10 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown.

While the pastries are baking, quickly crisp up some prosciutto and dice it up into small sprinkles.

Remove the grilled brie bites from the grill, sprinkle with the crisp prosciutto bits and enjoy!

Printer friendly recipe below:

Check out the Recipes Page for other tasty ideas!