These cranberry cream cheese bites are easy, delicious, and poppable cheesecake bites perfect for the holiday season. Flaky dough wrapped around cheesecake and cranberry sauce fillings? Yes, please!
Most of us think of turkey, ham, and sides when we think of holiday recipes, but I never forget appetizers.
Dishes like these mini chicken cranberry salad croissants or this classic air fryer pigs in a blanket recipe are perfect for mingling and snacking while the main meal is still cooking.
These cranberry cream cheese bites take that idea to the next level, combining the sweet and tangy holiday flavors of an easy cranberry sauce recipe with a rich cheesecake filling and stuffing it all into pie dough. You’re going to love this one!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Basic Ingredients: Both fillings use simple ingredients found in any kitchen or grocery store.
- Easy to Make: This simple recipe takes about 35 to 40 minutes from start to finish.
- Tons of Holiday Flavor: These are basically bite-sized cranberry cheesecakes, so they’re full of holiday flavor.
- Customizable: You can easily change the fillings to create a variety of flavors.
Key Ingredients
You’ll find a complete list of ingredients and their exact amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Cranberries: A mix of fresh cranberries, sugar, and water creates the easy cranberry filling.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese is the rich, creamy base for the cheesecake filling.
- Egg Yolk: Egg yolk adds extra fat for richness.
- Lemon Juice: A little lemon juice adds brightness to the filling.
- Refrigerated Pie Crust: Refrigerated pie crust gives your bites a golden, flaky exterior while saving time.
Variations
- Blueberry Cream Cheese Bites: Use the blueberry filling from my mini blueberry cheesecakes to make a blueberry version.
- Other Berries: Use any of your other favorite berries in place of cranberries to make all kinds of berry-licious bites.
- Other Fruits: Diced apples, pears, peaches, and almost any of your other favorites can be used in place of berries for the fruity filling.
- Crescent Dough: Use crescent dough for a flakier texture.
How to make Cranberry Cream Cheese Bites
- Cook the cranberry filling mixture on low until thickened. Then, set it aside to cool.
- Beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Then, add the remaining ingredients and beat until fully combined.
- Unroll the crescent dough on a cutting board or clean surface. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough. Then, top with the cranberry sauce.
- Roll the triangles up from the outside in and place them on two prepared baking sheets.
- Bake until golden brown.
- Then, let them cool a bit and drizzle with cranberry glaze and dust with powdered sugar.
Expert Tips
- Don’t worry if you can’t find fresh cranberries for your sauce. Frozen works just as well.
- Stir your cranberry sauce constantly as it cooks to avoid sticking.
- Your cranberry sauce should be cooled before adding it to the recipe.
- Fully soften your cream cheese for the best filling texture.
- Your bites will look messy as you roll them up. That’s okay. They’re supposed to!.
Cranberry Cream Cheese Bites FAQs
Yes, you can. They work just as well as fresh, and you don’t even have to defrost them.
It’s important to fully soften your cream cheese to avoid little bits of solid cream cheese in the filling, which can give it a grainy texture.
These little bites are done when the pie dough is golden brown. Because so little cream cheese filling is in them, they’ll ALWAYS be thoroughly cooked by the time the dough is golden.
More Delicious Cream Cheese Recipes
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Cranberry Cream Cheese Bites
Ingredients
- 2 containers Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls
Cranberry Sauce
- 1 ¾ cups fresh cranberries
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 ounce cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cranberry Drizzle
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons leftover cranberry sauce
- 1 tablespoon milk, more if needed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° and spray 2 baking sheets with a non-stick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
Cranberry Sauce
- In a small saucepan, add cranberries and sugar. Stir.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix water and cornstarch until combined then add to the cranberry mixture.
- Cook on low for 5-7 minutes until the cranberry mixture has thickened. Set aside to cool.
Cream Cheese Filling
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add sugar, egg yolk, vanilla and lemon juice. Beat for an additional 2 minutes.
Cranberry Drizzle
- In a small bowl, add powdered sugar, cranberry sauce, and milk. Stir to combine and add more milk to reach desired consistency. Set aside.
Making The Bites
- Unroll the crescent dough on a clean surface or lightly floured cutting board.
- Cut each triangle in half lengthwise so there are two crescent triangles made out of one.
- Spread cream cheese mixture over each one and then add the cranberry sauce on top.
- Roll from the outside edge towards the center of the crescent dough.
- Continue rolling each cranberry bite and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat the process with the second crescent dough.
- Place both baking sheets in the oven for 14-16 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, drizzle with glaze, and dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
- Stir your cranberry sauce constantly as it cooks to avoid sticking.
- Fully soften your cream cheese for the best filling texture.
- Your bites will look messy as you roll them up. That’s okay. They’re supposed to!
Nutrition
These cranberry cream cheese bites, turned out amazing! Looking forward to making them for an appetizer on Thanksgiving!!
Oh wow, these cheese bites are absolutely stunning! Just perfect for the holidays.
What a fun holiday idea! I love cranberry season and these Cranberry Cream Cheese Bites!
Tried them yesterday and they turned out great. Light, festive, and really tasty.
I tried these over the week and they came out delicious! Loved the combo of cream cheese and cranberry sauce. So festive and delightful!
We’ve been making these for years just with cranberry sauce. I can’t wait to try them with cream cheese! Such a brilliant addition!
I love these little bites! Cream cheese and cranberry is such a classic holiday flavor pairing. They look so elegant and easy to put together. It’s perfect for a party appetizer platter!
I made these last night as a test run, and we finished them for breakfast. DEE-licious.
These are as pretty as they are delicious. I made them last night for dessert, and we had them for breakfast this morning!
I can’t think of a better holiday treat. They’re so pretty and so yummy!