Baked Brie, You Complete Me

By Nora    

So, I have a feeling that most people reading this post are going to give me a big fat DUH, and say Nora, we're smart enough to read Food Lush so OF COURSE we know about baked brie, but i'm going to write this anyway in the event that there's even one person who doesn't know about baked brie and whose life I can possibly change by informing them of the simplicity and deliciousness of this crowd pleasing appetizer---or, if you're like me and enjoy eating cheese for dinner---Entree.

The reason I thought of writing about baked brie in the first place is because I rediscovered it this weekend when I had my friend over for a girls night and we decided to have an appetizers-only dinner (which is the best dinner in the whole world besides breakfast for dinner, IMO). I had an extra sheet of puff pastry in the freezer, and the light bulb went off in my head. I went right to the store and bought a small wheel of brie and some sour cherry preserves. (When it comes time for you to make it, please don't feel like you need to stick to the fruit preserves on top. This would be good with a salsa or a savory chutney as well, it's that versatile.)

I defrosted the puff pastry so it was pliable, and spread it out on a cookie sheet with a Silpat on it (parchment paper will also suffice). Then I plopped the brie wheel down on the puff pastry, spread a generous amount of the preserves on top of the brie, and then bunched up the pastry around the brie until it looked like a puff pastry pouch. You can even cut out shapes from any left over pastry and make it all decorative and fancy. I brushed the pastry with egg wash too, which gave it a nice shine. But the egg wash isn't necessary and doesn't make a difference to the taste.

Bake it at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. And don't wait too long before cutting into it because you want it to look like this when you serve it:

Could you just die? Search the web for "baked brie in puff pastry" and you won't believe the variations on this recipe. This photo came from a website called Nesting Newbies and the recipe includes pecan pieces, white truffle oil, and honey. Yeah. I know.

Comments

[Marissa Carbine]

I just discovered this amazing blog through Pinterest (what else), and I have bookmarked it on every device I use!

Thanks for the brie refresher. I just never think about this incredibly versatile appetizer.

Want a little jazz with your brie? Crumble a couple of pecan pralines on top of the brie before you wrap it up. YUM.