Last holiday season I shared some of my absolute favorite quick and easy appetizers, except for one of my favorites of all, Brie En Croute. That's just a fancy way of saying brie covered in a tasty layer of fruit and baked inside delicious and crisp puff pastry. A simple and straightforward appetizer that I managed to over bake last year and ruin. It's never happened to me before, but of course the time that I tried to make it for this blog, disaster struck. Oh well! It's the holidays again, so I've had a chance to redeem myself.

As I mentioned before, this recipe is pretty easy and comes out great, if you don't stupidly leave it in the oven too long. I've made a lot of versions of this recipe over the years and my favorite flavor combination is included at the end. I mainly wanted to focus this post on my tips for getting the best results.

Tips and Tricks

You might be tempted to try to make your own puff pastry for this recipe and I commend your ambitious spirit. But save that ambition for some other recipe adventure. Puff pastry is notoriously time-consuming and the end product is virtually indistinguishable from the store bought frozen puff pastry. Do yourself the favor and save yourself the hassle. Do, however, spend the extra time and money to get a good wheel of brie. President brie is widely available and comes out fine, like no one is going to complain about it. Smaller batch producers generally offer wheels of brie that have a deeper, more interesting flavor, that, in my opinion are worth it.

Brie generally has a rather thick rind that keeps the topping from permeating the gooey, cheesy goodness. I like to score the top of the cheese before I top it to help meld the flavors in the end product.

Traditionally baked bries are covered with raspberry jam. It is delicious, but can end up being a little sweet. That's why I've experimented and I suggest you do so too. A rule of thumb I've discovered is that the best combinations have elements of sweet, sour, and savory.

So that's all the recommendations. It's time for the recipe!

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Brie En Croute

by Daphne December-5-2015

A baked brie that goes beyond raspberry jam, but is just as simple and massively tasty

Ingredients

6-8 oz. brie, round
9 oz. frozen puff pastry
1 TBS honey
1 tsp rosemary
1/4 cup sour cherry preserves
1 egg
1 TBS milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Defrost the puff pastry in a kitchen towel. Once it is warm enough to handle, roll it out to completely encase the brie you have chosen. Lay it in a greased baking dish. 2. Put the brie on top of the puff pastry. Score it, barely cutting through the rind.3. Spoon the honey on top of the brie and sprinkle on the rosemary. Top that with the sour cherry preserves.4. Carefully fold the puff pastry up over the brie and topping, painting on a little milk with a pastry brush if it has trouble sticking.5. At this point you can leave the whole thing in your fridge until you are ready to serve it. 6. About 45 minutes before are ready to serve, beat the egg and milk together and cover the pastry with this egg wash before putting it in oven. 7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until it is golden brown. Let it cool for 15-20 before serving because that brie is basically molten inside. Enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 50 mins Yield: 6 - 8 servings