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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Don’t Forget Your Finishing Touches!
You’re almost done. 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. 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!
