The Canned Topping That Was Practically Made For Baked Brie

If you want your holiday appetizer table to feel truly luxurious and festive, there's no better centerpiece than a gooey, delicious round of baked brie. Famous for its luscious, buttery texture and flavor, brie becomes scoopable and decadent when lightly baked inside its bloomy shell. It's also an excellent foundation for both sweet and savory flavors, particularly tart fruits and spiced nuts. For instance, hazelnut and fig baked brie is a classic, but if you want to please almost every palate during your celebrations this season, topping your brie with canned cranberry sauce infuses this app with nostalgic flavor while simultaneously elevating both ingredients.

Canned cranberry sauce is tangy, bright, and sweet — the perfect contrast to brie's velvety creaminess. Additionally, embracing this canned holiday staple means this recipe comes together in just minutes. You can even "bake" your brie in the microwave to save time, topping it with the beautiful garnet-colored jelly once it's bubbly and soft. The convenience alone is enough reason to look for sales on brie wheels and stock your pantry with a few cans of your favorite brand of cranberry sauce, just in case you need to feed guests on the fly.

This combo is also endlessly versatile. You can punch up the flavor of your canned cranberry sauce with a little booze or orange juice, add crushed nuts or grated dark chocolate, drizzle it with hot honey or vanilla-infused syrup, or serve it with a variety of savory crackers, cinnamon graham crackers, and wafer cookies.

When using canned cranberry sauce for anything, the best thing you can do is give it a little TLC rather than serving it as-is. As attached as many of us are to the image of round, dark red jelly discs layered on a china serving dish, sauce directly from the can is tinny, a little too tart, and distinctly lackluster, flavor-wise. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to elevate canned cranberry sauce's flavor with some heat — both in terms of temperature and taste. Heating it caramelizes the sugars and helps infuse it with warm spiciness from cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

You can also add a splash of vanilla or orange extract and some citrus zest for brightness. Store-bought spiced and candied nuts or drained mandarin slices are easy toppings that look elegant and taste delightful with the tangy sauce and savory cheese. If you love the idea of a tropical-themed holiday table, infuse the cranberries with some lime juice, zest, a little agave nectar, and get really daring with some toasted coconut sprinkled on top. This is especially good with graham crackers for a key lime pie cheesecake flavor profile.

If you're hosting friends who love to cook, you can get everyone involved by offering mini brie rounds guests can drizzle with cranberry sauce and any of the mentioned flavor combinations. Bake the rounds in cupcake liners in the oven for a few minutes, or microwave them before topping to ensure they're perfectly soft and spreadable.