Cranberry Herb Baked Brie

Today I'm sharing a recipe for a cranberry herb baked brie. It is a perfect holiday appetizer, for a party or for just a few friends to share. This recipe is super easy to put together but has a good variety of different flavours and textures with the cranberry sauce, infused rosemary and thyme, and the salty crostinis. I hope you enjoy making it as much as I did!

Fun fact: I have only recently started enjoying baked brie. It was always one of those appetizers that I never truly understood the hype about. Luckily, after giving it a few more chances I now know why it is a favourite for so many. I love that the toppings added can be sweet or savoury, and that there are so many ways to make it your own. It's also great for hosting since it's super easy to make but feels fancy!

Ingredients

Baked Brie

- 1 large wheel of double cream brie cheese

- 2 cups of frozen cranberries

- 1/2 cup water

- 1/3 cup sugar

- 3 large sprigs of rosemary (plus extra for garnish)

- 6 sprigs of thyme (plus extra for garnish)

- 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped fine

Crostini

- 1 fresh baguette

- 2 Tbsp olive oil

- 2 tsp coarse sea salt (or more, to taste)

Method

Starting with the crostini, set your oven to broil. Cut up the baguette into thin pieces and place on a cookie sheet. Then, using a pastry brush, brush the top of each piece of baguette with olive oil so it is evenly coated. Next, sprinkle the sea salt evenly over the slices of baguette and place under the broiler until they crisp up and become golden. This can take between 3-5 minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on them, as it does not take long for them to burn.

Once the crostini are done, set your oven to 350ºF. To make the cranberry topping, start by combining the cranberries, sugar and water into a medium saucepan on medium heat. Stir to mix in all of the sugar, and then add the sprigs of both rosemary and thyme. Put a lid on the saucepan and bring to a light boil and then turn the heat down to low and let simmer for about 10 minutes. When the cranberries are very soft and the herbs are fragrant, remove the sprigs of rosemary and thyme and discard. Next, mash up the cranberries with the back of a large spoon, or a potato masher. The sauce should be thicker now, and less watery. Set the sauce aside to cool slightly in the saucepan.

Open up the wheel of brie and score the top of it using a knife. You want to cut a few lines going in opposite directions on the top (think of drawing a tic tac toe board), but only cut about halfway down into the brie and don't cut into the edge of the wheel. Next, place the brie on or in an oven safe baking dish and bake for 10 minutes or until you can see that the cheese is gooey. While the brie is in the oven, chop up the toasted pecans.

After the brie is baked, top with the cranberry sauce and the toasted pecans and garnish with fresh rosemary and thyme. Serve with the crostini and enjoy!