These sugar plum baked Brie bites use the same ingredients that go into traditional Christmas sugar plums to make what might be the best holiday appetizer ever. Baguette slices, topped with dried fruits, nuts, warm spices, and melted Brie, are absolute perfection—maybe even better than a whole baked Brie.
Ingredients
- cranberries: 0.25 cup (dried)
- cherries: 0.25 cup (dried)
- plums (pitted prunes): 6 piece (dried)
- raw walnut halves: 0.5 cup
- orange zest: 2 tsp
- apricot jam: 2 Tbsp
- ground cinnamon: 0.5 tsp
- ground nutmeg: 0.25 tsp
- ground allspice: 0.25 tsp
- ground cardamom: 0.125 tsp
- kosher salt: 0.5 tsp
- ounces Brie cheese: 12 piece
- slices baguette: 36 piece
- fresh rosemary: 2 Tbsp (chopped, optional)
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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To make the sugar plum mixture, chop dried cranberries, dried cherries, and dried plums into fairly small pieces. Gather chopped fruit into a pile and place walnuts on top. Continue chopping until everything is minced as finely as you want. Transfer to a bowl.
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Add orange zest, apricot jam, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, and salt; stir with a spoon until combined, adding a little more jam if needed for the mixture to just hold together.
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Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line 1 or 2 baking sheets, as needed, with parchment or a Silpat baking mat.
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To make the bites, place baguette slices on the prepared sheet pans and top each with a spoonful of the sugar plum mixture.
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Cut brie in half, then turn and cut each half into 1/8-inch thick slices. Top each bite with enough cheese to cover the sugar plum topping, piecing together smaller slices as needed.
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Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted and beginning to brown in spots, about 12 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes.
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Place brie bites on a serving tray or board. Sprinkle with some additional chopped dried cranberries if desired, and scatter chopped rosemary over the top before serving warm. These are also excellent at room temp, so they can be made ahead. Chef John
