Baked brie is sort of an obsession of mine. Gooey, melted cheese topped with something sweet, wrapped up in puff pasty? Where do I sign?!

It’s an awesome dish to bring to a holiday party, and it looks gorgeous until people start digging in. Then it gets tricky.

As tasty as it is, baked brie usually ends up becoming a mess. Slicing through the puff pastry layer, and attempting to get the ideal ratio of brie to pastry to sweet topping can be tough to wrangle.

And then you put it all on a cracker. That part always baffled me a little. As I sat there putting pastry on a cracker, I found myself thinking…why? Why am I putting pastry filled with cheese and sweet goodness on a cracker? It’s like putting bread on more bread and putting stuff on top of your double bread.

So, being the plucky problem solver that I am (not that bread on bread is a problem…if you’re into that) I devised a solution.Baked brie bites. Yum.

Completely self-contained in their puff pastry shells, you will always get the perfect amount of brie/sweet loveliness/puff pastry in each bite, minus the mess and awkwardness of trying to balance it all on a cracker.

Let’s be honest, the cracker is more of a vehicle for getting the brie in your mouth as fast as possible anyway. Because it’s bad form to sit there with a fork and eat it. (But totally understandable if you did do that.)

These baked brie bites are fast and easy, even easier when you discover that brie now comes in logs, which are perfect for making little uniform slices. And of course, if you can’t find logs, chopping a whole wheel into squares is always a great stand by.

Ingredients:

• 2 logs, or 1 wheel of brie sliced into 1 inch wide pieces (hint: make slicing easier by putting the brie in the freezer for 20 minutes before slicing)
• 1 batch cranberry sauce – recipe found here!
• 1 box frozen puff pastry, thawed

Directions:

1. Take your thawed puff pastry out of the package, and lay it out, one sheet at a time, on floured parchment paper, or nonstick mat. Roll the pastry out until it’s 1/4 inch thick. Cut each sheet into 2×2 inch squares.

2. Slice your brie logs into 1/4 inch thick pieces. If using a brie wheel, cut into 1 inch squares, 1/4 inch thick. Place a piece of brie in the center of each puff pastry square, and top with about 2 tsp. cranberry sauce.

3. Wrap the corners of the puff pastry square up and around the top of the brie/cranberry tower and press gently to secure the corners. Place the brie bites on a baking sheet, and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the bites are golden brown and the cheese is ooey-gooey.