Vegan Cranberry Cheese Bites 🌱 Deliciously festive bite-size appetizers baked in puff pastry with vegan cream cheese topped with a homemade cranberry orange sauce, zest and fresh herbs.
Welcome your family and friends this holiday with these simply scrumptious cranberry and cheese filled pastries. The colorful combination of tart cranberries and rich creamy vegan cheese nestled in crisp buttery pastry pockets create an eye-catching and mouthwatering taste treat. They're the perfect vegan appetizer for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and any fall or winter event.
I love serving starters that can be prepared in advance, allowing me to leave the kitchen and visit with guests when they arrive. This easy & delish recipe can be made ahead of time and then popped in the oven shortly before serving, just like our vegan meatless meatballs and fiesta pinwheels
Why you'll love this recipe
- It's simple and easy to make
- A perfect holiday or any day appetizer
- Very versatile - easily add or substitute ingredients
- Make ahead of time and bake when ready to serve
- So festive and pretty!
- Your guests will love them
Table of Contents
How to prepare this recipe
These vegan cranberry cheese bites are a lot of fun to put together. For this recipe post, I used store-bought puff pastry, vegan cream cheese, and my homemade cranberry orange sauce. If you're short on time or just prefer not to DIY, you can opt for store bought cranberry sauce.
Ingredients
- Pastry - vegan puff pastry, crescent roll dough, pie dough or phyllo dough
- Vegan cheese - cream cheese (plain or herb), vegan brie or any soft non-dairy cheese
- Cranberry sauce - homemade or store-bought
- Fresh herbs - parsley, sage, rosemary, or thyme (yes, I did say that)
- Orange zest
Making this simple Cranberry Orange Sauce is so easy & delish and totally worth doing! All you need are a few basic ingredients and a few minutes to make the best cranberry sauce. Chances are, once you try it, you'll think twice about using store-bought again.
🥕See the complete recipe for with quantities and details here.
- Thoroughly rinse cranberries.
- Pour cranberries into a medium saucepan with maple syrup and water.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender.
- Remove from heat.
- Stir in pumpkin pie spice, diced oranges and zest.
- Store covered in refrigerator until ready to use. That's it! So simple!
Instructions
See just how easy it is to create these yummy appetizers!
Packaged puff pastry (image above left) and crescent roll dough (right).
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- Place puff pastry or crescent roll dough onto a clean cutting board or silicone pastry mat. If using crescent roll dough, pinch together diagonal seams.
- Cut dough into 24 two-inch equal squares for a mini muffin pan or into 12 three-inch squares for a regular size muffin/cupcake pan.
- Lightly coat muffin/cupcake pan with vegetable oil.
- Press pastry squares into cups, folding corners over top of pan.
- Poke a few holes in each with a fork.
- Add a rounded teaspoon of cheese in the bottom of each pastry cup.
- Top with a teaspoon of cranberry sauce.
- Bake at 350℉ for approx. 10 minutes until golden brown.
Allow to sit for a few minutes. Garnish with fresh herbs and orange zest & serve!
Baking Tips
This recipe makes 12 large or 24 mini vegan cranberry cheese bites, depending on the muffin pan you use. I prefer a mini pan.
Here are my preferences for doughs to use in this recipe, starting with my first choice:
- Vegan puff pastry - Light and airy and puffs up beautifully while baking.
- Vegan crescent roll dough - Similar in flavor to puff pastry. Not as crispy.
- Pie dough - Thinner and crisper than the first two. Holds a nice shape.
- Phyllo dough - Very flaky. Less fat but also a lot drier and tends to fall apart.
🥕Note: You may need to adjust your oven temperature and baking time depending on the type of dough you use. Follow the package directions.
Variations and add-ons
- Chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds or pistachios
- Fresh herbs - rosemary, sage, chives, thyme, basil, parsley
- Substitute cranberry sauce with apricot preserves, raspberries or apple pie filling.
- Substitute orange zest with lemon or lime zest
- Stir in fresh chives, herbs or lemon zest into the cheese
Serving Suggestions
Entertaining is fun when you can offer your guests an array of tempting and tasty vegan appetizers by providing a variety of savory and sweet, hot and cold small bites, dips and finger foods. Serve these vegan cranberry cheese bites with our:
- Easy cheesy vegan pepper poppers
- Heavenly homemade hummus
- Meatless meatballs and homemade marinara
- Mediterranean roasted veggies
- Vegan spinach pesto with pistachios
Be sure to include a dessert tray with treats like our:
- Old-fashioned vegan fudge
- Palmier heart pastries
- Old-fashioned applesauce cake
- Vegan chocolate chip cookies
- Oatmeal cookies.
FAQ's
Yes, absolutely. If so, I would recommend using a whole-berry sauce, not jellied cranberry sauce. You can add extra color and flavor to canned sauce by adding orange zest and a pinch of pumpkin spice, if you like.
They sure can! Prepare the vegan cranberry cheese bites per the recipe instructions, but don't bake until you're ready to serve them. Refrigerate them up to 24 hours in the muffin pan, securely covered in food-safe plastic wrap or a large zip-lock plastic bag. When ready, bake at 350℉ for approximately 10 minutes until pastry is golden brown and cranberries are bubbling. Add garnish after baking.
You can store freshly baked, extra bites refrigerated in an airtight container or securely wrapped, up to 24 hours. Do note that the pastry bottoms may become a bit soggy. For food safety reasons, as a rule of thumb, I would not suggest storing leftover party appetizers that have been unrefrigerated for more than an hour or exposed to multiple people.
Puff pastry is made with layers of butter and thinly rolled dough sandwiched together, creating a light and airy pastry that holds together and stays soft and moist. Phyllo is also made with very thin layers of dough with less fat (usually oil) resulting in a very flaky and drier pastry. This article from marthastewart.com explains the differences between the two in detail.
Recipe
Vegan Cranberry Cheese Bites
Equipment
- 24 cup mini muffin pan or 12 cup regular cupcake/muffin pan
- Medium saucepan
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
Vegan Cranberry Cheese Bites
- 17.3 oz puff pastry vegan - one package
- 8 oz vegan cream cheese
- 8 oz cranberry sauce homemade cranberry orange sauce or store bought of your choice
- 3 tablespoon orange zest
Cranberry Orange Sauce
- 2 cups cranberries whole, fresh
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup oranges segmented (pith removed) and cut into ½" pieces
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 pinch pumpkin pie spice cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
Instructions
Vegan Cranberry Cheese Bites
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- Place puff pastry, crescent roll dough or pie dough onto a clean cutting board or silicone pastry mat. If using crescent roll dough, pinch together diagonal seams.
- Cut dough into 24 two-inch equal squares for a mini muffin pan or into 12 three-inch squares for a regular size muffin/cupcake pan.
- Lightly coat mini muffin/cupcake pan with vegetable oil.
- Press pastry squares into cups, folding corners over top of pan.
- Poke a few holes in each with a fork.
- Add a rounded teaspoon of cheese in the bottom of each pastry cup.
- Top with a teaspoon of cranberry sauce.
- Bake at 350℉ for approx. 10 minutes until golden brown.
Cranberry Orange Sauce
- Thoroughly rinse cranberries. Remove any stems.
- Pour cranberries into a medium saucepan, add maple syrup and water.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, lower heat and simmer until cranberries have popped and become very tender.
- Remove from heat and stir in orange sections, zest and pumpkin pie spice.
Notes
- Vegan puff pastry – Light and airy and puffs up beautifully while baking.
- Vegan crescent roll dough – Similar in flavor to puff pastry. Not as crispy.
- Pie dough – Thinner and crisper than the first two. Holds a nice shape.
- Phyllo dough – Very flaky. Less fat but also a lot drier and tends to fall apart.
- Chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds or pistachios
- Fresh herbs - rosemary, sage, chives, thyme, basil, parsley
- Substitute cranberry sauce with apricot preserves, raspberries or apple pie filling.
- Substitute orange zest with lemon or lime zest
- Stir in fresh chives, herbs or lemon zest into the cheese
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
Julia says
My family loved these!
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
Thank you Julia! I'm delighted to know that everyone loves the cranberry cheese bites! Thank you for sharing!
Kayla DiMaggio says
Yum! I am loving these cranberry cheese bites! Such a perfect appetizer!
Andrea White says
So good! Love this one so much!
Cindy Mom the Lunch Lady says
OMG I can not wait to make these for holiday parties this year! I bet Brie cheese would pair beautifully in these as well!
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
Cindy, you're absolutely right. I've made these with vegan brie and they're delish! Thanks a bunch!🥕
Gabriela Herrera says
OMG Connie these Vegan Cranberry Cheese Bites are giving me life right now. Thank you so much for this festive recipe. These are the perfect appetizer.
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
Gabriela, you made my day! I'm so happy you like the recipe. They're as much fun to make as they are to eat! Thank you for your wonderful comment & rating! 💚🥕
Connie Edwards McGaughy says
Want to wow your guests at your next holiday get-together? Make a batch of these delish and colorful mini bites!