Surprise – it’s another recipe with cranberries! I may have been a tad overzealous when I was buying cranberries at the grocery store before Thanksgiving, but their color was so vibrant and tantalizing that I couldn’t resist. Plus, cranberries have lots of antioxidants, so they’re really healthy for you (possibly less so when surrounded by cheese and buttery crust, but let’s not dwell on that).
These little “ravioli” are great for either a small dessert or for hor d’oeuvres. They’re like little bites of pie – made with pâte brisée, a delicate French version of a classic pie crust, to go along with the French cheese – with both sweet and savory tucked inside. Tip: use a good, full-fat brie. I chose an inopportune time to try low-fat brie, and it was not quite as delightful as I had hoped. I also used Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider because that’s all I happened to have around, but I imagine that any kind of cider or even regular apple juice would be fine. The upside of using sparkling cider, though? The rest of the bottle is the perfect festive drink to sip while noshing on these little “ravioli”!
Note: Although I know that many people eat the white mold rind on brie, I didn’t use it in this recipe because I wasn’t sure how it would turn out after being baked. Have you ever baked with the rind? And if you have, would you do it again? I’m curious to know!
These look delicious – and very festive with the use of cranberries. That’s not a pastry I’ve come across before but it looks wonderfully flaky. You can bake the skin of Brie but the rind doesn’t melt down as well so you tend to get lumpy bits – tastes fine but doesn’t look so good. Thanks so much for sharing this with Cheese, Please! and I look forward to seeing what else you cook up in the future. Have a lovely Christmas!
Ooh, I’m glad I didn’t include the rind then. Thanks for that information. Happy holidays to you as well!
Oh my gosh these are so cute
I love cranberries so I bet they taste awesome!
Thanks! For some reason, I never paid much attention to cranberries until this year, but they really are quite delightful.
What a neat idea. Although I was initially a bit wary mixing two fairly strong tastes, the nutty taste of the Brie and tartness of the cranberries, these are delicious! I can picture these paired well with a nice red wine.
Thanks! I’m no good at pairing wines with foods myself, but I can certainly imagine a red wine complementing these quite nicely.