Cranberry Brie Puffs

What’s that?  You have leftovers in the fridge?

And you need a quick appetizer for your first-of-many holiday parties this weekend? Done and done.

Your leftover cranberry sauce gets fancy in these cute little two-bite Cranberry Brie Puffs.

Sweet, tart cranberries and creamy, melted cheese all nestled in a cute little puffed-up cup.  The red cranberries make these little bites so festive AND… they’re exceptionally easy.  Three ingredients: puff pastry, cheese and leftover cranberry sauce.

I typically use brie in these puffs…but brie is not for everybody.  Fontina cheese is a more mild-flavored cheese and melts beautifully, so it would work equally well.

Leftovers be gone!

Little Hands Can…

• Press puff pastry squares into muffin cups
• Place cheese cubes into puff pastry cups
• Spoon cranberry sauce on top of cheese cubes

On the Side

Cooked cranberries (in cranberry sauce) are very different from raw cranberries, yet they’re BOTH cranberries.   With this recipe, we’re learning about comparing and contrasting using cranberries!

Comparative thinking is a very natural form of thinking.  We do it all the time when we’re explaining something to someone.  We say, “It’s like this….” or “It’s not like that…”.  We help the other person understand by comparing what we want them to know with something they already know. Comparing and contrasting is great for building your child’s vocabulary, improving comprehension and developing higher order thinking skills.

A comparison shows how two things are similar; a contrast shows how two things are different.  For this activity, you’ll need:

• A handful of fresh cranberries
• Cranberry Sauce (which has obviously been flavored with other ingredients.  If you wanted to compare raw cranberries to plain cooked cranberries, you could just boil some fresh cranberries in water until they pop. Then let them cool before handling.)
• Your senses
• A printout of a Venn diagram (possibly for older children)

Let’s take a look at two kinds of cranberries: cooked and raw (uncooked).  What do you observe?  How are they the same?  How are they different?  Using your five senses, brainstorm ideas about how the two forms of cranberries are the same AND how they are different.  Do they LOOK similar or different? How? Do they TASTE similar or different?  SMELL? SOUND? FEEL?

Try to elicit some “juicy” adjectives to describe the way the cranberries are the same and different.  Here are some examples:

• COOKED CRANBERRIES: red, purple, dark pink, maroon, wet, tart, sweet, tangy, fresh, squishy, juicy
• RAW CRANBERRIES: bright, red, dry, round, oval, tart, bitter, hard, crunchy, fresh, bouncy, light

You can have a discussion about the similarities and differences you observe, or you can use a Venn diagram to illustrate the differences.  Label each circle with one type of cranberry. Write the differences that are unique to each form of cranberry in the outside part of each circle.  Write the similarities in the middle, where the circles overlap.  We used a small chalkboard to write down the adjectives we discussed while comparing and contrasting our cranberries.

You can use this idea to compare and contrast any types of cooked and raw foods!

Disclaimer: As with all of our recipes, my suggestions for how kids can help with a particular recipe are based on what has worked in our kitchen.  Your child may be able to help more or less based on their age and/or ability.