Easy Baked Brie With Jam & Spiced Nuts
Impress your guests with this warm, gooey Baked Brie with Jam. It’s one of the easiest appetizers that tastes like it took hours to prepare but comes together in minutes. The brie softens to a spoonable consistency under a glossy layer of jam, that’s topped with sweet and lightly spiced nuts. Serve it right from the oven with crackers, a baguette or slices of apple.
In This Article
Nutritional Benefits
Cheese is a fermented food that undergoes a process of ripening and fermenting using bacteria and mould that helps develop its texture and flavour (1). A process that also makes cheese a good source of probiotics (2). In addition to that, many bioactive substances are created during the fermentation of cheese, such as GABA (3), a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system to calm and slow brain activity (4). And if that wasn’t enough, cheese is considered a complete protein along with containing plenty of calcium and many of the B vitamins including B3, B6, B9 and B12 (5).
Then there are the nuts, another nutrient rich food with wide-ranging cardiovascular and metabolic health benefits (6).
Ingredients – What You’ll Need To Make This Recipe
A handful of ingredients come together to create an easy appetizer recipe that everyone will love. It requires almost no prep time and minimal time in the oven too. I’ve used a double cream brie but the normal variety is fine. Try a triple cream if you want an extra gooey cheese, though once warm any variety yields a wonderfully creamy cheese centre.
- Double cream brie – melts to a rich, spoonable consistency and has a mild, buttery flavor.
- Your favorite jam – adds sweetness that balances the richness of the cheese.
- Walnuts and pistachios – add flavor and texture but look great on top of the cheese too!
- Honey – lightly sweetens the nut topping and helps them glaze as the brie warms. Use maple syrup if preferred.
- Cumin – adds a warm, earthy taste to the nuts and is a perfect combination with the honey. Just use a touch – the aim is to have a very mild amount of spice, it should not take over.
- Sea salt – enhances the flavors and works incredibly well to balance the sweet and savory here.
- Fresh thyme – adds colour to the dish and adds an earthy, slightly peppery taste.
- For serving – your favorite crackers, chunks of sourdough, baguette slices, apple slices, or any other fresh fruit you like.
A number of different jams work so well with this recipe. Any variety purchased from your local grocery store is fine or any jam recipe you like. I’ve used my Strawberry and Rose Water jam but the Strawberry And Rhubarb or Rosella Jam are equally delicious. Raspberry jam or fig jam would work well too. The cumin light—the aim is gentle warmth, not a spice-forward profile.
How To Make Baked Brie With Jam
Made for effortless entertaining, this brie appetizer takes only a few minutes of prep and delivers a soft, glossy centerpiece that guests can scoop straight from the dish.
- Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a small baking sheet or shallow baking dish with parchment paper.
- Take a small cast iron skillet or flat-walled ramekin and brush with olive oil. Place this on top of the baking sheet.
- Unwrap the brie wheel and place it in the small pan. Score a shallow crosshatch on the top of the cheese barely breaking the brie rind.
- Stir the chopped nuts with honey, a good pinch of cumin, and a small pinch of salt until lightly coated.
- Spread the jam over the top of the brie, then spoon on the nut–honey mixture and finish with a sprinkle of chopped thyme.
- Bake for 12–15 minutes, until the cheese is soft and the centre gives easily to gentle pressure.
- Remove from the oven, drizzle with a small amount of olive oil, sprinkle with more fresh thyme, and rest 3–5 minutes so it settles before serving.
This is the perfect appetizer for a busy holiday season. Add it to a charcuterie board, a cheese board or simple serve surrounded by chunks of bread, crackers and slices of fruit.
Substitutions And Variations
Use any soft, ripened brie (double or triple cream); camembert also works if that’s what you have on hand.
The best part about this delicious appetizer is that just about any flavor of jam you can think of will work. Strawberry jam, apricot jam, plum jam – anything at all. Choose the jam to suit the moment: cranberry for a seasonal twist, raspberry for tartness, apricot or fig if you’re a fan of a sweet jam, or cherry for something in between. The sweetness of the jam combined with the crunch of the mildly spiced nuts and the creamy brie cheese is a combination that can’t be beaten.
Swap nuts to taste—swap walnuts for pecans pecans, pistachios for almonds or anything else you like.
If you’re not a fan of the sweet and savoury mix leave out the cumin, thyme, salt and olive oil.
I love the addition of cumin in this recipe but keep it to a decent pinch. It can overpower the other flavors very quickly.
Tips For Success With This Recipe
Don’t skip on the cookie sheet / sheet pan with parchment paper. The brie can get very bubbly and is prone to bubbling right over the top of the dish. Sitting the dish on a lined tray avoids getting melted cheese all over your oven and makes for very easy clean-up. It also makes it easier to transfer to a serving board.
Score the top rind of the brie lightly; this helps the jam settle and the cheese vent as it warms.
Use a thick jam so it sits on top of the cheese without sliding off as it bakes.
Let the baked brie rest a few minutes; it will be molten without running. Serve with plain crackers or sliced baguette so the topping stays the star.
I’ve found this recipe works best if the cheese is contained. I’ve tested it several times just sitting on parchment paper and on many occasions the cheese burst and oozed out everywhere. If you don’t have a tiny skillet or a flat-sided ramekin, simply place the cheese in any oven-proof dish it will fit snuggly into.
Storing
Baked brie is best served hot from the oven, but leftovers can be placed in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for one day. The next day gently rewarm the cheese at 320°F/160°C until soft again.
This recipe is not suitable to be made ahead or for any leftovers to be frozen.
FAQ
No. Brie has an edible rind. It also helps hold the cheese together given the centre is soft before baking and very gooey once baked.
Many types of jams work well with this recipe. Both sweet and tart varieties are great options.
Yes! This is a warm appetizer and gently heating the jam on top of the brie helps them meld together.
More Appetizer Recipes To Try
If you try this recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment, rate it, and remember to tag @wholenaturalkitchen in your pics or reels on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok!
Easy Baked Brie With Jam & Spiced Nuts
Equipment
- 1 Small skillet or flat-sided ramekin Or any small oven-proof dish
Ingredients
- 7-8 oz Wheel of double brie cheese (200g) – see note 1
- ¼ cup your favorite jam (or more if preferred) – see note 2
- ¼ cup nuts, I used a mix of walnuts and pistachios (roughly chopped)
- 1 tbsp honey
- ⅛ tsp cumin (a large pinch if you don't have this measure)
- Pinch of salt
- ½ tsp fresh thyme chopped (optional)
- Crackers, slices of baguette and slices of apple for serving
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a small baking sheet or shallow baking dish with parchment paper.
- Take a small cast iron skillet or flat-walled ramekin and lightly brush with olive oil. Place this on top of the lined baking sheet (see note 3).
- Unwrap the brie wheel and place it in the small pan. Score a shallow crosshatch on the top of the cheese.
- Stir the chopped nuts with the honey, cumin, and salt until they are lightly coated.
- Spread the jam over the top of the brie, then spoon on the nut–honey mixture and finish with a sprinkle of chopped thyme.
- Bake for 12–15 minutes, until the cheese is soft and the centre gives easily to gentle pressure. The nuts should be glossy but not burned.
- Remove the pan from the oven, drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the top of the nuts, sprinkle with more fresh thyme then add to a platter with crackers, slices of baguette and apple, and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Pin This Recipe For Later
Gabby Campbell
Gabby is a degree qualified Naturopath/Nutritionist (BHSc Nat) with a love of all whole foods. She started her Naturopathic career in clinical practice before making the move to recipe development and online education – a result of wanting to combat the misinformation that abounds on the internet about food and health. Whole Natural Kitchen aims to transform the way you think about healthy eating by helping you embrace an abundance of nutritious foods while leaving the health fads behind. MORE ABOUT GABBY