These cranberry brie puff pastry tarts are altogether sweet, savory, salty, buttery, and flaky. You can use store-bought puff pastry, but if you can spare a few hours for the dough to chill in the refrigerator, I urge you to try this surprisingly simple homemade puff pastry instead. Finished with a sparkle of coarse sugar and flaky sea salt, these cheesy handheld tartlets will steal the show at any holiday gathering.
One reader, Jean, commented: “I have made this recipe for two holiday events. Both times the serving plate was empty before I got to the buffet table. So easy to make. ★★★★★“
Today we’re taking a pie hiatus (pie-atus?!) from dessert with these cranberry brie puff pastry tarts. Pies and tarts shouldn’t be limited to dessert—that’s why we can enjoy recipes like quiche, cheesy vegetable tart, and chicken pot pie. Today’s personal-sized tartlets are perfect as an appetizer before the main meal, or offered on a tray at a cocktail party. They’d also be a fun sweet-savory addition to your dessert table full of Thanksgiving pies.
Why You’ll Love These Cranberry Brie Puff Pastry Tarts
- Texture: You can actually hear the crispy texture of baked puff pastry. When you bite into it, the delicately light layers crackle as they separate, a full-on sensory experience! That crispy flaky texture holds a soft interior—melty brie cheese and jammy cranberries.
- Flavor: Buttery, creamy brie cheese pairs beautifully with sweet, fruity cranberry sauce with hints of orange. A sprinkling of coarse sugar, flaky sea salt, and fresh thyme take all these flavors to new heights. You can also add pecans for a little nuttiness. (You may already have enough nuttiness at your holiday gatherings, but a little more couldn’t hurt, right? 😉 )
- Ease: Making the cranberry sauce is very easy, and you can do it ahead of time. If you use store-bought puff pastry dough, the entire recipe is quick and convenient for beginner bakers. With the homemade puff pastry dough, I’d categorize this tart as intermediate-level baking. It’s not complicated at all; it just requires shaping and precise folding.
Look how flaky! This is my homemade puff pastry dough.
You Can Make the Puff Pastry From Scratch
You can use store-bought puff pastry for these tarts, but homemade puff pastry is next-level good. The pictured cranberry brie tarts are made from the same handmade rough puff pastry dough I use for berry turnovers, butternut squash tart, apple turnovers, mushroom puff pastry tarts, and cinnamon palmiers. Hundreds of readers have tried the homemade dough and are pleasantly surprised with its ease. (It was a community baking challenge recipe one year!) If you can find a few hours, which can easily be broken up over a couple days, try the homemade dough. It’s so worth it! You can watch a video tutorial in the rough puff pastry post.
More About This Shortcut Pastry Dough
- 5 Easy Ingredients: Flour, salt, sugar, butter, and water
- No Yeast, No Laminating: Unlike the breakfast pastries dough, this dough does not require any yeast, and unlike croissants and traditional puff pastry, this dough does not require laminating with a separate layer of butter.
- Flatten & Fold Dough: Flatten dough and then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. After that 1st refrigeration, flatten and fold the dough like a business letter 6x. Chill in the refrigerator 1 more time for at least 15 minutes. After that, the dough is ready to use for this recipe.
Here’s Everything You Need for Today:
Make Your Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Have you made this cranberry sauce before? It’s a family favorite, and it’s really quick and easy. For these tarts, I halved the recipe because you don’t need as much (this version yields a heaping 1/2 cup, or 180g), but feel free to make the full recipe from that post if you are also going to be serving cranberry sauce with your meal. You can make this ahead of time because it keeps well in the refrigerator.
Here’s what you need to make it:
- Cranberries
- Water
- Orange (juice + zest)
- Sugar (or brown sugar)
- Vanilla Extract
FAQ: Can I Use Frozen Cranberries? You can use fresh or frozen cranberries (not dried). If using frozen, no need to fully thaw—just rinse them with water before using.
When you have your puff pastry dough and cranberry sauce ready, grab the remaining ingredients:
- Egg Wash: 1 egg beaten with a little milk or water.
- Brie Cheese: You need about 6 ounces, or 170g, of brie cheese. You don’t need to splurge on expensive cheese—any mild double cream or triple cream brie will do.
- Coarse Sugar & Flaky Sea Salt
- Pecans: Nuts are optional.
FAQ: Should I Leave the Rind on the Brie?
Cheese aficionados say yes, absolutely. The bloomy rind is there intentionally and its earthy flavor is meant to complement the soft cheese inside. But you’re in charge of your flaky little cheese tarts, so if you want to cut the rind off, go ahead. The tarts will be tasty either way.
How to Assemble the Cranberry Brie Tarts
Roll out the dough to be *about* 12×16 inches:
Cut the dough into 12 roughly equal 4-inch squares. A pizza cutter is a handy tool for this. Brush egg wash on top of each, and then transfer them to a 12-cup standard-size muffin pan.
Squares don’t have to be perfect; mine never are!
Place a slice/piece of brie, about 1/2 ounce or 14g, in the center of each dough-lined muffin cup. Add 2 heaping teaspoons of cranberry sauce on top of each.
Gently fold in each corner of the dough squares toward the centers of the tarts, tucking in that delicious filling. (Night-night!) Sprinkle a little bit of coarse sugar over the top of each one (sweet dreams!) and they’re ready to bake. 🙂
If adding pecans, wait and add them halfway through the baking time, to ensure they don’t burn. If you’re making pecan pie for the holidays, just save a few for the tops here.
Don’t Forget Your Finishing Touches!
You’re almost done.
After the cranberry brie tarts have finished baking, sprinkle some chopped fresh thyme and flaky sea salt on top, and serve immediately. They taste best warm, but that shouldn’t be a problem… in my experience, they’ve never lasted long enough to get cold!!
I hope you LOVE these.
This recipe is part of Sally’s Pie Week, an annual tradition where I share a handful of new recipes that fit into the pie/crisp/tart category. Join the community below!
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Cranberry Brie Puff Pastry Tarts
- Prep Time: 20 minutes (add 3 hours for homemade dough)
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes (add 3 hours for homemade dough)
- Yield: 12 tartlets
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These cranberry brie tarts come together with puff pastry dough, brie cheese, and homemade cranberry sauce. You can use store-bought puff pastry, but if you can spare a few hours for the dough to chill in the refrigerator, I urge you to try this surprisingly simple homemade puff pastry instead.
Ingredients
- 1 lb homemade rough puff pastry, or store-bought frozen & thawed puff pastry (2 sheets)
- egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) water or milk
Filling
- 1 cup (100g) fresh cranberries, rinsed*
- 6 Tablespoons (90ml) water
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) fresh orange juice*
- 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon orange zest*
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 ounces (170g) brie cheese
- coarse sugar, for sprinkling
- optional: 1–2 pecan halves for each
- optional for garnish: flaky sea salt & fresh thyme
Instructions
- Dough: Prepare homemade rough puff pastry dough through 2nd refrigeration. If using store-bought frozen puff pastry, make sure it’s thawed. Keep either dough in the refrigerator until step 4 below.
- Make the Cranberry Sauce: After rinsing the cranberries, set 1/4 cup (25g) cranberries aside. You will stir these in at the end for extra texture. Combine the remaining cranberries, water, orange juice, and sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally as the mixture comes to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat to medium-low. While stirring occasionally, continue to cook until liquid has reduced and cranberries have burst and thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup reserved cranberries, orange zest, and vanilla extract. Allow to cool slightly while you continue.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Grease a 12-cup muffin pan (I use nonstick spray).
- On a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll pastry dough into a 12×16-inch rectangle; it doesn’t have to be perfect. (Tip if using 2 sheets of store-bought: place the edge of one sheet over the other and use a rolling pin to adhere them together. Roll the whole thing out into a 12×16-inch rectangle.) With a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut dough into 12 4-inch squares. (Again, doesn’t have to be perfect.)
- Egg Wash & Assemble: Brush egg wash all over puff pastry squares, including the edges. Transfer the squares to the prepared muffin pan, pressing them down to fill each cup as a “crust.” Slice the brie into 12 pieces, about 1/2 ounce (14g) each. Place the slices of brie in the centers of the dough crusts. Top each with a spoonful (about 2 heaping teaspoons) of slightly warm or cold cranberry sauce. Gently fold the corners of the dough in toward the center of each tart. Sprinkle coarse sugar over the tops of tarts.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until tarts are golden brown. If adding pecans, at the 10-minute mark, gently place them in the center of each tart and continue baking for the remaining 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and garnish each tart with flaky sea salt and fresh thyme leaves. Cool for a couple minutes, and then use a spoon to help remove the tarts from the pan. Serve warm.
- Cover and store leftover tarts in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To reheat, cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 300°F (149°C) oven for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: If using homemade dough, see the detailed dough recipe instructions for make-ahead and freezing details. You can essentially prep the dough 48 hours in advance or freeze up to 1 month. You can prepare the cranberry sauce up to 3 days ahead of time. Cool completely, cover tightly, and then refrigerate until ready to use. You can freeze the baked and cooled tarts for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat (covered with aluminum foil) in a 300°F (149°C) oven for 15 minutes before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Saucepan | Rolling Pin | USA Pan Muffin Pan or Wilton Muffin Pan | Pizza Cutter | Pastry Brush | Zester | Citrus Juicer | Flaky Sea Salt
- Cranberries: You can use fresh or frozen cranberries. No need to fully thaw. Rinse the frozen cranberries with water in a colander before using. No need to pat dry.
- Orange Juice & Zest: You need fresh orange juice and orange zest. I recommend zesting the orange first, setting the zest aside, then cutting the orange for the juice. (Harder to zest a cut orange!)
- Brie: You can use any brie cheese, double or triple cream. No need to remove the rind.
- Full-Size Tart: You can turn this recipe into a full-size tart baked on a baking sheet, and the baking instructions will be different. I recommend following the assembly and baking instructions from this recipe for butternut squash tart. Spread cranberry sauce over egg-washed dough and dot pieces of brie on top before baking. Feel free to sprinkle with coarse sugar, then add pecans halfway through bake time, and finish with flaky sea salt and fresh thyme before serving.
I am so excited to try this recipe. I’d love to bring them to a holiday party. Any suggestions on transporting them and keeping them warm? I will not have an oven to use. Wondering if I should just save them for another time?
Hi J, how far do you have to travel? They are quite hot coming right out of the oven, so you could try covering them with foil, transporting them to your event, and serving them slightly cooled/warm there. Hope this helps!
Travel time is about 30 mins. Maybe if I bring a hot plate for where I’m going?
These are fantastic! Served them on Thanksgiving, and everyone loved!!
These look amazing! Do you think this recipe would work in a mini muffin pan? I’d like to put them out as little appetizers before dinner
Hi Darlene, I tested them as mini and they were so very small, and puffed up so much that there was hardly any room for filling. You could do it, however, with frozen phyllo dough.
What are the asterisks for in the ingredient list? I see no reference elsewhere.
Hi Mark, see the Notes section after the recipe. Enjoy!
Hi Sally, Could you use the crescent roll/dough in the can instead of the store bought puff pastry sheets? I’ve made this recipe once as is and they were a hit!! Thank you.
Absolutely! It won’t be as layered and flaky.
Ok thanks for the advice! I have the ingredients and a roll of crescent dough, so will probably try this in mini muffins tins. However, I plan on making these exactly to your instructions again this Thanksgiving. It was so easy with the homemade cranberry sauce and everyone LOVED them. Thanks again!!
This was delicious! Used store bought puff pastry though. I love puff pastry and wondered what you think about making a puff pastry appetizer and freezing for a later date. Would the reheating cause puff pastry to dry out?
Hi Betty, so glad you enjoyed these! These particular tarts freeze and reheat very well, up to 3 months. Bake and cool the tarts completely before freezing. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat (covered with aluminum foil) in a 300°F (149°C) oven for 15 minutes before serving.
Question: Where does that pinch of salt go? I’m presuming from its place in the ingredient list that it gets mixed into the cranberry sauce with the rest of the off-the-heat ingredients, but it’s not mentioned in the procedural steps at all.
Yum! Made Sally’s Cranberry Sauce for Thanksgiving. Then I froze half for these tarts at Christmas time. Used premade puff pastry. As a result, they came together quickly. The flavors are great. They disappeared quickly. Will make these again!
I have made this recipe for two holiday events,
Both times the serving plate was empty before I got to the buffet table. So easy to make.
Can I bake these one day to serve the following day? If yes, how to reheat? Will they loose the crispiness of the puff pastry by reheating? Thank you.
Hi Theresa, you can make them a day ahead, store them in the refrigerator, and then to reheat, cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 300°F (149°C) oven for a few minutes before serving.
So frustrating- it doesn’t say if the dough goes egg wash side down or up down.
Hi Meriah! Egg wash the top side.
I’m still confused! So the egg wash side is sitting in the tin and you put the Brie on top of the egg??
Hi Elisa, correct. Egg wash the top side.
Hi!! Would folks recommend toasting the pecans ahead of time for more flavor or would they burn with the additional bake?
Hi Anna, we don’t recommend it. If adding pecans, wait and add them halfway through the baking time, to ensure they don’t burn.
Would goat cheese work in this recipe instead of brie?
Hi Linda, can’t see why not!
This looks amazing !
Can you put the link for your muffin pan, please .
Thank you Sally
Hi Christina! It’s linked in the recipe notes – see the one titled “special tools”. Enjoy!
I saw these in the email earlier this week, and I just hade to make them today. They are delicious! I think I needed to add less Brie and be a little more precise when forming the crust. The cheese bubbled over top of the pastry in a few places. I didn’t have any oranges, so I substituted lemon and it worked well. Not the prettiest today but they tasted wonderful. I’ll be making these again!
These are excellent! The cranberry sauce is really flavorful and I can’t believe how flaky the homemade puff pastry is.
I have a aluminum muffin tin, without a nonstick coating. Will I have a problem with these sticking and if so, would the best workaround be greasing the cup or using liners?
Hi Dinah, I often use a nonstick muffin pan. Spray with nonstick spray and they’ll remove easily if you use a spoon to help.
Hi! My daughter is allergic to eggs. Do you have a recommendation for an alternative to the egg wash? Can’t wait to make these!
Hi Carrie, a brush of milk works well too!
I want to make this for Christmas. Would I be able to freeze the finished product? Thank you.
Absolutely. For up to 3 months. See detailed freezing instructions in the Notes.
I love this!! Can’t wait to try it!!
Can we use canned cranberry sauce? (Gasp!)
Hi Renee, Sure can.
These look delicious! Can they be made in a Mimi muffin tin? Thanks
Hi Eileen, I don’t recommend mini muffin size because the tarts will be so puffy and there won’t be much room for a filling.
Do you think it would be ok to assemble them earlier in the day, store in refrigerator, and then bake right before company arrives?
Absolutely! The pastry loves being cold, and holds those flaky layers better.
We have an overabundance of Jamaican Roselle here in Central Florida. I am excited to try my “Florida Cranberry” sauce in these!
Oh my…..this looks delicious! Are we to take the rind off of the Brie before adding it to the muffin pan?
Hi Michele, that’s up to you! Either works.
Love this! Any suggestions what to serve with? Thank you
Hi Kathleen, I’d say this is more of an appetizer. As a meal, it would be lovely with something like roasted chicken/turkey and a vegetable or green salad. You could probably enjoy as dessert too– they’re a bit sweet!
I can wait to try these! One of my favorite appetizers for Christmas is Brie and cranberries wrapped in puff pastry, and I know your recipe will be delicious!