Cranberry Brie Bites

Cranberry Brie Bites are the kind of appetizer that make people assume you spent all afternoon doing tiny, fussy pastry work when really you cut puff pastry into squares, tuck in Brie, spoon over cranberry sauce, and let a hot oven do the showing off. The pastry puffs around the cheese, the Brie turns molten, and the cranberry brings enough tartness to keep the whole thing from tasting like a dairy product wearing a winter coat.

The trick is restraint. Use small cubes of Brie, a modest spoonful of whole-berry cranberry sauce, and keep the puff pastry cold until it hits the oven. Too much filling turns the mini muffin cups into a sticky little cheese flood, which is festive in spirit but not especially useful when guests are standing nearby holding napkins and making eye contact. Pecans add crunch, honey rounds out the tart fruit, and a few rosemary leaves give the finished bites that holiday-party look without requiring you to own a silver serving tray or suddenly develop opinions about napkin rings.