Coconut Crusted Brie Stuffed Quinoa Bites with Sweet Cranberries

Place your round of brie in the freezer while you make the cranberries and quinoa mixture.

Add cranberries, brown sugar, honey, water and half of the orange zest to a medium saucepan, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to serve.

In the meantime, combine the quinoa, mashed cannellini beans, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well to moisten the ingredients and then mix in the crumbled blue cheese. Mix well again and form into 28-30 equal balls. Place on a plate and put in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.

Remove the brie from the freezer and dice it into 28-30 equal chunks. Some may be bigger than others, but in general aim for the same size. Grab the quinoa balls and, working with one at a time, push one cube of brie into the middle of the ball and form the quinoa into a smooth ball around the brie, making sure all of the brie is covered. Repeat with the remaining balls. The cubes of brie may seem big for the size of you balls, but you want lots of brie! If you find that a few of you brie cubes are just too big, cut them in half.

Place the remaining 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs, the 3/4 cup shredded coconut and a good pinch of pepper in a shallow bowl. Add the eggs and buttermilk to another shallow bowl. Dip the balls through the egg and then carefully coat them in the coconut. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining balls. Bake for 10-15 minutes, just until the tops of the balls begin to brown. I like to rotate and check the balls after 8 or so minutes of baking. Do not bake longer than 15 minutes or all the brie will ooze out!