Baked Brie

Brie is my favorite food.  I'm a dedicated sweetaholic, always finding some kind of snack, but I've driven 9 hours for brie before.  I was first exposed to it in the ninth grade during French class.  My teacher was less than perfect when it came to teaching, but she wanted to give us a French food experience by making us brie one day, and for that day alone I'm grateful for all of the useless hours I sat there trying to learn French.  Four years later I was in Hilton Head with my family and we had decided to eat at Truffles.  I was all for it because, there on the appetizer list was brie.  But I didn't order it as an appetizer. Oh no.  It's my main dish. I sit there with this beautiful wedge of brie baked in pastry with pecans and fruit and gorge myself and I'm happy.  I've done it three or four times now at that specific restaurant, and I'm sure I'll do it again.

This Christmas my mother-in-law, who somehow remembered my love of brie, found and gave me a dish meant specifically for baking brie.  She also supplied me with three different brie recipes and the different additives to make it special, such as jam, dried fruit and nuts.

I, of course, didn't look at any of the recipes carefully enough and bought brie, but not the puff pastry it called for.  So the other night, both still hungry after dinner, B and I decided to make brie.  Then I saw that I needed puff pastry and didn't have it, but I had a can of crescent rolls.  I promise, the next time I make brie, it will be the correct way, with puff pastry.  It's one of my goals for the year.  Anyway, B won't eat nuts, so I left the nuts out of the recipe I used and just added some to my serving after it was cooked.  The end result was a flaky warm outside, gooey cheese inside with the wonderful hit of sweetness from the apricot preserves. 

Then, noticing that I had some leftover crescent roll dough and a package of chocolate chips nearby, I decided to make these:

Ingredients for baked brie with apricot preserves:

8 oz. brie wedge

1/4 c. apricot preserves

2 T. slivered almonds (if you're lucky enough to be sharing with someone who eats nuts)

1 can crescent rolls (I used the Pillsbury ones meant for recipes - no perforation in the dough)

1 egg beaten with 1 T. water

How:

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Slice brie horizontally in half.  Spread one surface with preserves and then sprinkle with almonds.  Replace the top half of the brie.  

Unroll the crescent rolls until flat and smooth.  Place brie on top of dough and wrap dough around brie, removing any excess, but make sure the brie is covered completely.  

Brush the crescent roll dough covered brie with egg wash.  

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Gorge yourself and enjoy!

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