Cranberry Brie Bites

This is a recipe that is more assembly instruction than it is culinary preparation, but it is unique, delicious and will surely make as big a hit with your guests as it did with mine.  The cranberry topping obviously lends itself well to an hors d'oeuvres best served around Thanksgiving or Christmas time, but no one would object if you served them before an Easter brunch or a Independence Day barbecue.

Among the three ingredients that you need to make these delicious bites is a package of store-bought fillo dough mini pastry cups.  I cannot imagine how difficult and lengthy a time it would be to make this item from scratch. There are several brands on the market, with Athens probably being one of the foremost.  They are sold frozen and you keep them frozen until ready to put into the oven.

The second ingredient you will need is a can of whole berry cranberry sauce.  Ocean Spray will likely be the one you'll quickly find, but regardless of the brand, make sure the sauce contains whole berries.  It will make for better hors d'oeuvres both in appearance and texture.

The origin of this recipe is from A Spicy Perspective website, whose author finished each bite with a dusting of chopped pistachio.  I gather she was going for a Christmas red and green theme.  I thought the pistachio was an unnecessary if not distracting step, and omitted it.

Ingredients
15 - 30 fillo pastry mini cups (like, Athens)
4 - 8 oz Brie Cheese (like, Président)
14 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce (like, Ocean Spray)

The Recipe
Pre-heat the oven to 350F degrees.

You will use 4 ounces of Brie for 15 pastry cups.  Remove the rind from the cheese and cut the Brie into fifteen more or less 1/2-inch cubes.

Leave the pastry cups in the freezer until this point.  Carefully remove each cup onto a non-stick sheet pan or pizza dish.

Place a cube of cheese into each pastry cup and then put the pan in the oven on the top rack for 8-10 minutes until the cheese is melted and the pastry is becoming golden.

In the meantime, put the cranberry sauce contents into a microwavable dish and zap for a minute until the sauce is warmed through.

When the pastry cups come out of the oven, spoon a whole cranberry with some sauce on top and serve the hors d'oeuvres while they are still warm. You will have a lot of cranberry sauce left over, which is not necessarily a bad thing.