Holiday Cranberry Baked Brie

I am so excited to announce that I am part of the 2014 Holiday Cocktail Party Blog Hop!

There are over 40 bloggers teaming up to bring you delicious appetizers, cocktails, mocktails, desserts, and sweet treats for the holidays! At the bottom of this post you will find links to all the other blogs, so be sure to click through to a couple and check out what they have! In a few weeks I am going to be posting another post, with ALL the recipes from the blog hop – so exciting! You can also search the internet for the recipes using the hastag #2014CocktailPartyHop

For the Holiday blog hop I decided to make an appetizer, and as my readers know, I love me some cheese.  One of my friends was actually telling me a few weeks ago that she tells people that I have an affinity for cheese – like I’m the cheese girl or something. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing to be known for or not, but there is no denying that I love cheese any way you slice it. So for this holiday recipe, I decided to put together some creamy brie cheese, with some delicious sweet tangy homemade cranberry sauce.  Baking the brie for a few minutes, and then adding the hot cranberry sauce to the top is a to die for combination. It is so delicious. This is the perfect appetizer for holiday parties. It cooks up super quickly, and even making a homemade cranberry sauce only takes a few minutes.

One tip for this recipe is that I highly recommend making this right before you will be serving it. If you want to prepare ahead of time, make the cranberry sauce and store in the fridge. Then when you are ready to make it, cook the cheese, and then add the cold cranberry sauce, and cook some more together. It cooks really quickly and takes little effort, so you can have it cooking as your guests arrive to your party, then pull it out and pop it onto a tray!

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Holiday Cranberry Baked Brie

Ingredients

• 5 oz whole cranberries
• 1/3 cup orange or apple juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 16 oz round of brie cheese
• crackers or bread for serving

Instructions

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. 2. In a small pot over medium high heat, add the cranberries, juice, and sugar to the pot. Stir to combine. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 5 minutes, covered. The cranberries should be popping, but you can also use a fork or wooden spoon to mash them. Once it has thickened up, turn off heat and set aside.
3. 3. While that is cooking, cut the top of the rind of the cheese using a large serrated knife (this will make it super easy). Place the cheese cut side up on an oven safe plate or dish. Cook for 10 minutes and remove from oven.
4. 4. Top the cheese with cranberry sauce, and place back in the oven for 2-5 minutes. My sauce was extremely hot so I didn't need to bake it much more.
5. 5. Remove from oven and serve immediately with crackers or slices of baguette bread.

Recipe Notes

If you don't want to make your own cranberry sauce, you can definitely used canned with whole cranberries (not the jelly log of cranberry sauce). I highly recommend making your own because it's so easy and delicious!

Please take a look at the blogs participating in this Holiday Cocktail Party!

Appetizers

Domestic Superhero – Just Us Four – The Blue Eyed Dove – Sweet Pea – Glued To My Crafts – Patricia Eales Nutrition – Lemons and Laughs – Cupcakes&Crowbars – Sowdering About – Vegetarian Gourmet – Yesterday on Tuesday – Mom Home Guide – My Craftily Ever After – The Love Nerds – One Krieger Chick – Kenarry: Ideas for the Home – A Dish of Daily Life

Cocktails & Mocktails

One Artsy Mama – The Blue Eyed Dove – Sparkle – Albion Gould – Southern State of Mind – Eat Drink Eat – A Labour of Life – My Creative Days – Shelstring – I’m Bored Lets Go – Blue Crab Martini

Desserts & Sweet Treats

Major Hoff Takes A Wife – This Is The Life I Have Chosen – Crazy for Crust – Sypsie Designs – DIYfaerie – Little Blog on the Homestead – Living Better Together – Laura’s INKlings – Life Made Sweeter – Tried & True – FrugElegance – Play. Party. Pin.

Thanks for visiting!

– Allyson