christmas canape

Gooey, melted cheese and crispy, golden bread make a stunning centrepiece to share with friends over drinks or as a dinner party starter – make ahead for fuss-free entertaining

Baked camembert with bacon-wrapped breadsticks

strong white flour

sachet fast-action dried yeast

tsp English mustard powder

golden caster sugar

tsp thyme leaves,plus extra sprigs for the cheese

light olive oil,plus extra for greasing

whole camembertin a box

pancetta

Mix together the flour, yeast, mustard powder, 11/2 tsp fine salt, the sugar, thyme leaves and 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper. Stir in 250ml lukewarm water, use your hands to bring together into a dough, then knead for 10 mins on a clean surface until it is smooth and elastic. If you have a tabletop mixer with a dough hook, use this instead and ‘knead’ for just 5 mins. Sit the dough in a large, clean bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave at room temperature for about 1 hr until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line your largest baking tray with baking parchment. Sit the lid of your boxed camembert in the centre of the tray.

Knead the dough back into a smooth ball, then use your fingers to make a hole through the centre. Steadily stretch the doughnut shape into a large ring until the centre hole is large enough to fit around the lid. The best way to do this is to swing the dough around your fingers, then hand, like a hula-hoop.

Sit the dough ring on the tray around the box lid. Use kitchen scissors to snip the dough ring into 20 strips, from the outside in, but leave a few millimetres of dough still connecting the strips together around the lid in the centre. If using the ready-to-eat pancetta slices, halve each one lengthways. Twist one of the 20 dough strips to make it longer and thinner like a breadstick, then wrap a pancetta slice in a spiral around it. Repeat with all the dough strips.

Your breadsticks might look a little higgledy-piggledy at the moment, so use kitchen scissors to snip the ends off any that need it to make an even, round shape, if you like (see tip below). Brush with a little light olive oil and bake for 15 mins.

Meanwhile, unwrap the camembert and top with the thyme sprigs. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with a little more black pepper. Remove the breadsticks from the oven and sit the cheese inside the box lid, then bake for another 5 mins until the bread is golden and crispy, and the cheese molten.

These Brie and Cranberry Bites are perfect for a festive party snack or appetiser when cooking for dinner guests. Use this recipe as a base for other fillings too, using either your favourite Christmas flavours or leftovers.

Brie and Cranberry Bites {The BEST Christmas Canapés}

puff pastry sheet

g Cranberry sauce

Brie

Egg (Beaten)

Olive oil (For greasing)

Sea salt

Runny honey

Preheat the oven to 200℃/400F fan, 220℃/425F or Gas Mark 7 and brush the inside of the 12 holes of the muffin tin with the olive oil.

Unroll the puff pastry sheet, cut it into 12 squares and push into each muffin hole. Spoon a little of the cranberry sauce into each pastry square, then sit a piece of brie on top. Brush the pastry with beaten egg.

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with honey to serve.

I made these for visiting family last year and they're definitely going on my list again this year. So easy but impressive and taste amazing!

So good! The veggie in-laws loved these on Christmas Day. Definitely a recipe to keep for future parties.

Just about to pop in the oven! very easy to make  !

Yummy. Made this dish and it was full of flavour. The family loved it.

OMG! This recipe looks delicious! I never heard of before. Also, the presentation of the images is awesome! Definitely, I am going to try at home. Thanks for sharing.

Damn, this sounds perfect for out Christmas celebrations. Thanks for sharing!

Top 2 christmas canape recipes from across the web

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Baked camembert with bacon-wrapped ...

Brie and Cranberry Bites {The BEST ...

Top 2 christmas canape recipes from across the web

The most viewed christmas canape recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Baked camembert with bacon-wrapped ...

Brie and Cranberry Bites {The BEST ...

The most viewed christmas canape recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine