This cranberry brie tart prepared with a puff pastry makes for a lovely festive starter for the holidays. It’s warm, comforting, and loaded with melting cheese and tangy cranberries. Subtle and delicious!
Whether you’re looking for an easy Thanksgiving or Christmas appetizer, this cranberry brie tart is always a crowd pleaser. Super simple to make and assemble, it’s prepared with a base of puff pastry, and garnished with cranberry sauce, shallots, slices of brie cheese, and crunchy pecans.
The cranberry sauce offers a perfect balance of sweet and tart flavors, which contrasts perfectly with the salty melting cheese. Then, the use of puff pastry underneath makes each bite light, flaky, and absolutely irresistible.
What goes into cranberry brie tart?
- Puff pastry. You can either go for store-bought fresh or frozen puff pastry.
- Brie cheese. Choose it still firm, and cut into thin slices.
- Cranberry sauce. I used it canned, but you can go for homemade cranberry sauce (see note below the recipe card) or replace with lingonberry sauce, available in every Ikea store.
- Shallots. They bring a subtle and elegant flavor to the dish.
- Pecans. For the crunchy bites, and also because pecans and cranberries are like best friends.
- Herbs. I recommend fresh rosemary or fresh thyme.
How to make and assemble this tart?
This cranberry brie tart comes together easily in 4 steps:
- Sauté the shallots with butter until soft.
- Roll out the puff pastry and line with the pie dish.
- Assemble the tart by starting with a layer of cranberry sauce, add the shallots and cranberries, and finish with the Brie cheese slices on top.
- Bake for 25 minutes, then add the pecans and return to the oven for 5 more minutes. Drizzle with honey, sprinkle some fresh herbs, and serve immediately!
What if I can’t find cranberry sauce?
In this recipe, I used canned cranberry sauce. However, depending on the region in the world you live in, this product might not be available. For this reason, I added the homemade cranberry sauce recipe in the note below the recipe card. It’s very easy to make ; all you need to do is find some fresh or frozen cranberries.
Alternatively, you could go for Swedish lingonberry sauce (also called lingonberry jam). Although this is not the same thing as cranberry sauce, it has this tart flavor that we are looking for in the recipe. You can easily find it in every Ikea store.
Which crust should I use for this recipe?
I love the use of puff pastry in this recipe because it adds some rich, buttery and festive notes to the whole tart. Most of the time I recommend a store-bought puff pastry, either fresh or frozen, to spare you the hustle of making your own one, but if you want to go the extra mile, make sure you check my step-by-step puff pastry guide to walk you through the recipe.
Instead of puff pastry, you can make this cranberry brie tart using a regular pie crust, either homemade or store-bought.
How to slice cranberry tart with pecans?
It all depends on the shape you want to give the tart. You can either roll out the puff pastry into a large circle or into a rectangle. The first option will make a fancy holiday starter served into regular slices in small plates with a side of salad. The second option shaped into a rectangle is perfect to slice as bite-size appetizer. You can also cut a round tart into diamond-shaped slices to serve as an appetizer.
Cheese variations
This recipe calls for Brie cheese, but if you are amateur of strong cheeses, you can replace with Camembert. Also a few other variations that would do great with cranberries are the use of blue cheese or fresh goat cheese. Pick your favorite!
How to store cranberry brie tart?
Leftovers should be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and reheated in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Do not reheat in the microwave and avoid freezing the tart as it will not do great with the melted cheese. This cranberry brie tart is so quick and easy to assemble anyway, you can easily bake it at the last minute.
If you like cranberries, try also…
- Orange Cranberry Pound Cake
- Vegan Orange Cranberry Scones
- Cranberry Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash
- The Best White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies
Other savory recipes for the holidays:
- Vegetarian Mushroom Wellington
- Mushrooms and Brussels Sprouts Gnocchi
- Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash
Cranberry Brie Tart with Pecans
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
- Category: Savory
- Diet: Vegetarian
This cranberry brie tart prepared with a puff pastry makes for a lovely festive starter for the holidays. It’s warm, comforting, and loaded with melting cheese and tangy cranberries.
Ingredients
- 1 puff pastry, thawed (about 17 ounces/500g)
- 2–3 shallots, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (200g) cranberry sauce, canned*
- 16 ounces (450g) Brie cheese, sliced
- ½ cup (125g) fresh cranberries
- ¼ cup (g) pecans
- Honey, for serving (optional)
- Fresh rosemary or thyme, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and line the bottom of a 12-inch (30 cm) pie dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a medium skillet placed over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until soft and translucent, about 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh thyme or rosemary if desired. Set aside.
- Roll out the puff pastry into a large circle to fit the pie dish and prick the bottom with a fork.
- Spread out the cranberry sauce over, add the shallots, then top with a layer of Brie cheese. Sprinkle with fresh or frozen cranberries and bake until cheese is melted, about 25 minutes.
- Top with pecans, then place in the oven for 5 additional minutes. Drizzle some honey over the warm tart if desired, sprinkle some fresh thyme or rosemary, then slice and serve warm. Enjoy!
Notes
* For homemade cranberry sauce, pour ½ cup (125 ml) water and ½ cup (100g) sugar to a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add 2 cups (6 ounces/170g) fresh or frozen cranberries, and return to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until most of the cranberries have burst. Remove from heat, and let cool completely at room temperature. Transfer to a bowl to chill in the refrigerator ; the cranberry sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
* Cranberry sauce alternatives. Another option is to replace cranberry sauce with lingonberry sauce (you can find it in any Ikea store). Both are rather different to each other but have this very tart flavor that will suits this Brie tart perfectly. For a different version of the tart, try also with some fig jam instead of cranberry sauce. It’s delicious!
Did you make this recipe?
Lastly, if you make this Cranberry Brie Tart with Pecans, be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thank you and enjoy!
