Sweet and savory with a kick of heat, these pumpkin, Brie, and hot honey bites are the perfect fall appetizer to serve during the holidays, or really at any dinner party. The honey provides the perfect balance for the sweetness of the pumpkin and the savory, melty Brie. Add a bit of fresh thyme and some roasted pecans, and you’ve got yourself a certified crowd-pleaser. Trust me—I set these out in our Test Kitchen, and they flew off the plate.
If you want to make your own hot honey, here’s how to do it: In a clean jar, whisk 1/2 cup honey, 2 tsp. hot sauce, and 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper until well combined. Many recipes call for heating the honey over a very low heat with either fresh or dried chile peppers to extract the spice. This process not only takes a while, it also risks the impatient cook caramelizing the honey to a softball stage, which makes it no longer liquid enough to drizzle the way honey does. Store in an airtight container or jar and refrigerate up to 2 months. Once you’ve made it, you can add a touch of sweet heat to anything you’d like (I highly recommend drizzling on top of one of my other favorite fall apps, our crispy sweet potato bites).
If you want to get ahead of party planning, you can make the pumpkin filling up to 24 hours ahead and store it in an airtight container. Once completely assembled, these bites will last up to 2 days in your fridge.
Made this recipe? Rate and review it in the comments below!
