Brie & Jam Pastry Appetizers

A friend of mine posted this recipe on Pinterest a while back, and I was immediately taken. Brie + jam + pastry?? Sign me up!

Problem was, I didn’t have a really good reason to make something like this, and if I just made them for myself I would eat them ALL, which is a bad idea.

So when I was in Dallas last weekend my friend Kristine and I decided to prepare a big Sabbath dinner for us, her boyfriend and her roommate. I suggested these little pastry brie & jam bites as an appetizer, and she immediately agreed.

[Editor’s note: photos updated in July 2021]

Even in her tiny apartment kitchen with limited cooking supplies, we were pretty impressed with our output.  They were easy, affordable, and–best of all–delicious!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

The puff pastry sheets will be frozen when you get them. You’ll want to thaw them halfway or mostly, but ideally not *all* the way–they’ll get doughy, hard to handle, and won’t keep shape.

If you thaw them overnight in the fridge you should be fine, and just keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to use them to keep them from melting too much.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough a little thinner and wider/longer while maintaining the shape.  Cut into 12 equal (or mostly equal, I can’t cut straight to save my life) pieces. I used a pizza cutter, super easy.

The first time I made these, we couldn’t find fig jam at the grocery store, so we used the Bonne Maman apricot-raspberry preserves. And it was awesome.

I’ve since made them with fig jam, strawberry, and my own homemade bourbon cherry jam, and of the three the fig jam was my least favorite.

Put a dollop of jam in the center of each piece.

Be careful not to use too much…it’ll ooze all over the place when baking and make a super mess.

Cut your round of brie into bite-size cubes (you won’t use the whole round). 

Place a small slice of brie in the center of each piece. Place some others in your mouth…have to make sure it’s good, after all!

That may be near perfection right there…

Take each piece and pull up the edges to make a little boat, smooshing the sides of the dough together to make it hold.

There is no right or perfect way to do it. Kristine made fun of my ugly ones (in the first pic, bottom center)–but they were still delicious.  The bottom pic is from the last batch I made, we used too much flour so getting them to stick was hard. 

Doesn’t matter, still delicious.  Better to err on the side of over-sealing, as they will come apart in the oven.

Place them on parchment paper and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. It definitely took on the longer side every time I’ve made these.

PSA:  you cannot use wax paper instead of parchment paper!!  (Unless you like fire.)  You can use aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking spray, as an alternative, or try these in sprayed muffin tins (which I think could help wrangle these).

The finished product. They were a super hit. Even The Boy loved them, though he insisted on calling them Croissanwiches.

Easy, affordable, and fancy–a trifecta that’s hard to beat. These brie & jam bites are great for a dinner party hors d’oeuvres, brunch, a bridal shower, anything really.

Other delicious appetizers to wow your guests:

• The Best, Simple Burrata Caprese Salad
• Amazingly Addictive Marinated Feta Cheese
• Awesome Homemade Salsa
• Cranberry-Rosemary Cheese Spread

Brie & Jam Bites (Puff Pastry Appetizers)

• Part of a round of brie cheese (probably just over half)
• Fig jam (I couldn’t find fig jam, but you can use any high-end jam)
• Frozen puff pastry sheets (thawed, but not starting to melt)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, silicone, or (in a pinch) tin foil with a little cooking spray or butter.  Or, you could use a muffin tin (spray it).
2. The puff pastry sheets will be frozen when you get them. You’ll want to thaw them halfway, but not all the way–they’ll get doughy, hard to handle, and won’t keep shape. It works best if they’re semi-frozen when you work with them.  If they’re thawed a little more, use a bit of flour to keep the from sticking too badly BUT NOT TOO MUCH.
3. Cut a sheet of pastry dough into 12 equal (or mostly equal, I can’t cut straight to save my life) pieces.  Hint: a pizza cutter makes this super easy.
4. Put a dollop of jam in the center of each piece. Be careful not to use too much or it will seriously ooze and make a super mess.
5. Place a small slice of brie in the center of each piece.
6. Take each piece of puff pastry and pull up the edges to make a little boat, smooshing (technical term!) the sides of the dough together to make it hold.  There’s no right or wrong way to do this, but do err on the side of over-sealing them since they’ll come apart in the oven.
7. Place them on parchment paper and bake for 20+ minutes, until golden brown.

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