Baked Brie/Brie En Croute

Cheese always makes a great appetizer, unless all of your guests are lactose intolerant of course. Instead of just leaving blocks of cheese and crackers out for my guests at a recent dinner party, I decided to bake some brie so it looked like I didn't think of the appetizer as an afterthought.

This recipe is nearly foolproof and looks rather elegant. It's a perfect cold weather appetizer and is almost always eaten up in seconds.

This particular recipe only used nuts, cinnamon and brown sugar.  But you can make many different variations. One of my other favorites is a mix of nuts, apricot jam and dried cranberries. It's important that this is served warm. Pair it with crackers or fruits like apples and grapes.

Baked Brie

Ingredients:

1 sheet of pre-packaged frozen puff pastry
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 8 ounce wheel of brie
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg, beaten

Method:

Step 1: Allow puff pastry to thaw for at least 20 minutes
Step 2: Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Step 3: Melt butter in pan over low heat, and add walnuts, cooking while stirring for 5 minutes
Step 4: Mix cinnamon into nut mixture and take off heat
Step 5: Roll out puff pastry on floured surface (not too thin), and place brie in center of dough
Step 6: Top brie with nuts and then brown sugar, and wrap with dough
Step 7: Cut off remaining dough and make shapes to place on top of dough wrapped around brie if desired
Step 8: Brush all sides, but bottom of dough with egg, and place on baking sheet
Step 9: Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned, and serve