Maple-Cranberry Baked Brie in Puff Pastry

Cranberry baked brie is the appetizer that gets cut into first at every November party: a whole wheel of brie under a layer of cranberry sauce and toasted pecans, wrapped in puff pastry, baked until the pastry is deep gold and the cheese inside has gone molten, then opened at the table so the brie runs into the cranberries. This version cooks the cranberries in dark maple syrup instead of sugar, which reads as more autumn and less jam, and it explains the three things that separate a triumphant baked brie from a leaking one: the cold pastry, the rind, and the rest.

The recipe card at the bottom has the amounts and numbered steps for one 8-ounce wheel that serves 8 to 10 with crackers and apple. This guide covers what brie is and why the rind stays on, the maple cranberry sauce and which grade of syrup to use, wrapping in puff pastry, the bake and when to tent, the rest, and make-ahead. It sits in the site's recipes collection with the cranberry walnut cheese log and the rest of the holiday and seasonal cooking.

What Brie Is, and Why the Rind Stays On

Brie is a soft-ripened cow's milk cheese, which means it is ripened from the outside in by a white mold that blooms on its surface and is patted down into the thin, velvety rind. Président, the brand in most American cheese cases, describes the aging as the process that lets the rind bloom into a thin protective exterior, and says plainly that the rind is completely edible and adds a bloomy, earthy note to the mild paste. Its baked-brie advice is the whole doctrine of this recipe in one line: bake it to the point that it is gooey but not completely melted, so it can hold its form.

The rind is what makes that possible. Inside, ripened brie is a loose network of milk proteins that the mold's enzymes have partly broken down, packed with butterfat; warm it and the fat softens near body temperature and the loosened protein network flows with it, which is why a room-temperature brie already sags and a baked one runs like sauce. The rind does not flow. It is the container, and a wheel with its rind on comes out of the pastry as a dome of molten cheese held in shape; a wheel with the rind cut off comes out as a puddle that has soaked into the crust. Leave it on, and if the top rind bothers you, score it lightly so the sauce sits in the cuts. Buy a whole 8-ounce wheel, not a wedge, and keep it cold until it is wrapped.

The Maple Cranberry Sauce and Which Syrup to Buy

Simmer two-thirds of a cup of fresh cranberries with a quarter cup of maple syrup, a strip of orange zest and a pinch of salt over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until most of the berries have burst and the syrup has thickened to a loose jam. Cranberries carry more natural pectin than almost any fruit, and as they pop they release it into the syrup, where the sugar lets the pectin chains link into a gel; the sauce sets as it cools. Cooling is not optional here. A hot sauce spooned onto the brie would soften the cheese before it is wrapped and soak the pastry from the inside, so cook the sauce first and let it cool completely, even a day ahead. The same sauce, made with more berries, is the cooked topping on the cranberry cream cheese dip.

The maple grade matters more than the brand. Since 2015 all retail maple syrup is Grade A in four color-and-flavor classes; the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association lists them as Golden with delicate taste, Amber with rich taste, Dark with a fuller taste and Very Dark with strong taste, and recommends the darkest grades for cooking and baking, where a strong maple flavor has to survive heat. Use Dark or Very Dark here; Golden disappears behind the cranberries. The color is chemistry, not quality: the University of New Hampshire Extension explains that as the sugaring season warms, microbes in the sap break sucrose into glucose and fructose, and those sugars brown through the Maillard reaction as the sap boils, so late-season syrup is darker and more strongly flavored. Toast the pecans while the sauce cools: 350°F for 8 minutes, until fragrant.

Wrapping: Cold Pastry, Sealed Seams

Puff pastry rises on steam. It is hundreds of alternating layers of dough and butter, and in a hot oven the water in the butter flashes to steam and forces the layers apart; King Arthur Baking puts it as no yeast, all the leavening from the layers of butter, and Pepperidge Farm's FAQ says the same thing about the moisture in the fat creating steam between the layers. Both conditions follow: the pastry must be cold going in, because soft butter oozes into the dough and the layers merge, and the oven must be hot. Thaw the sheet in the refrigerator or on the counter just until it unfolds, and work fast. Set the cold wheel in the center, spread the cooled sauce over the top, scatter the pecans and thyme, then bring the four corners up over the top, pressing the seams together and trimming any thick doubled-up patches so the top is not a raw lump.

Turn the parcel seam-side down onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, brush it all over with beaten egg, decorate with leaves cut from the pastry scraps if you like, and finish with flaky salt. The egg wash is browning insurance: its proteins and sugars brown faster than plain dough, and it glues the seams. Then, and this is the step that saves the pastry, refrigerate the wrapped parcel for 15 to 20 minutes before it goes into the oven, so the butter is fully cold again. The caprese bites and the beef Wellington on this site run on the same rule.

Baking, Tenting and the 10-Minute Rest

Bake at 425°F on the middle rack for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden brown on top and, when you lift an edge with a spatula, the bottom is browned too. The high heat sets the pastry before the cheese inside has fully liquefied, which is the balance this dish lives on: the crust needs 20 minutes of real heat to puff and brown, and 20 minutes is also about how long an 8-ounce wheel takes to go from cold to gooey through the rind. If the top is browning fast at 15 minutes, lay a piece of foil loosely over it, tented so it does not touch the egg wash, and finish the time. Pale pastry is underbaked pastry and will be doughy against the cheese, so do not pull it early for fear of the brie.

Rest it 10 minutes before cutting. Straight from the oven the brie is fully liquid and the first cut sends it across the board; ten minutes lets it cool to a thick, slow flow that stays on the plate and holds against the cranberries, while the pastry is still warm and crisp. Serve on a board with a knife, and let people cut wedges, with buttery crackers, toasted baguette, sliced apple and pear. It is at its best in the first 30 minutes; a brie that has fully cooled sets firm again, and a 300°F oven for 10 minutes brings it back once.

Make-Ahead, Variations and Serving

Make-ahead: the sauce keeps a week refrigerated. The brie can be wrapped, egg-washed and refrigerated on its sheet pan up to a day ahead, then baked from cold with 2 or 3 extra minutes; that is the easiest holiday appetizer schedule there is. Do not freeze it wrapped; the brie weeps when it thaws. For a skillet version without pastry, set the wheel in a small cast-iron pan, top with the sauce and pecans, and bake at 350°F for 15 minutes until gooey. For the jalapeño crowd, stir a minced jalapeño into the sauce; for a walnut version, the coating from the cheese log works on top. On the same table, the Boursin stuffed mushrooms cover the hot savory course.

Maple-Cranberry Baked Brie in Puff Pastry

A whole 8-ounce brie wheel topped with fresh cranberries cooked down in dark maple syrup, toasted pecans and thyme, wrapped in puff pastry, egg-washed, chilled, and baked at 425°F until deep golden, then rested 10 minutes and served with crackers and apple. Serves 8 to 10.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 33 minutes mins

Course Appetizer

Servings 10 servings

Calories 260 kcal

Ingredients

  

• ⅔ cup fresh cranberries
• ¼ cup dark pure maple syrup
• 1 strip orange zest
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• ¼ cup pecans, toasted and chopped
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of a 17.3 oz box), thawed but cold
• 1 whole 8-oz brie wheel, rind on, cold
• 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tsp water
• ½ tsp flaky sea salt
• Crackers, toasted baguette and sliced apple or pear, to serve

Instructions

 

• Make the sauce: simmer the cranberries, maple syrup, orange zest and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until most of the berries have burst and the syrup is jammy, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the zest and cool completely (up to a week ahead, refrigerated).
• Unfold the cold pastry on a lightly floured counter and roll it just enough to smooth the folds. Set the cold brie in the center. Spread the cooled sauce over the top of the wheel and scatter with the pecans and thyme.
• Bring the four corners of the pastry up over the top, pressing the seams together and trimming any thick doubled patches. Turn the parcel seam-side down onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Brush all over with the egg wash, add pastry-scrap leaves if you like, and sprinkle with flaky salt. Refrigerate 15 to 20 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) with a rack in the middle. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden on top and browned underneath. If the top darkens fast at 15 minutes, tent loosely with foil.
• Rest 10 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a board and serve warm with crackers, baguette and apple, cutting wedges at the table.

Notes

Leave the rind on; it holds the molten cheese. Cool the sauce fully and chill the wrapped parcel before baking so the pastry stays flaky. Dark or Very Dark maple syrup only. Rest 10 minutes or the cheese runs. Assemble up to a day ahead and bake from cold with 2 or 3 extra minutes.

More for the holiday table: cranberry cream cheese dip, cranberry walnut cheese log, and Boursin stuffed mushrooms. Same pastry rules: beef Wellington.

Cranberry Baked Brie FAQs

The questions that come up most: whether to remove the rind, how long to bake it, why the pastry leaked or went soggy, whether it can be assembled ahead, whether canned cranberry sauce works, what to serve it with, which maple syrup to use, and how to reheat leftovers.