This easy and delicious appetizer or dip (or main dish!) is a crowd pleaser and a fragrant addition to any meal.
Ingredients
- Large or small wheel of brie (I always use a big wheel)
- 1-2 sheets of thawed puff pastry or 2 pie crusts
- Your favorite fig, jalapeno, or other jam
- Dried figs or cranberries- optional, but I added both to my recipe this time (get them in the bulk section at the grocery store)
- One egg, beaten
- Rosemary sprigs (I used quite a bit!).
- Gabe's Original and Mama's Mediterranean Blended Dry Spices
- Soft breadsticks but into small rounds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F degrees.
- Beat your egg (you can also just use egg white).
- Line a baking sheet or pie plate with parchment paper. I prefer to spray my favorite deep dish pie plate with butter flavored nonstick spray. There's plenty of butter in the puff pastry or pie crusts to keep things unsticky.
- Lay the first puff pastry or pie crust on the plate or paper.
- Cut the middle out of the brie and set aside. I cut a large circle to get all the good stuff I want into the middle of the brie.
- Place the brie in the middle of the pie plate or tray.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of fig jam into the hole and add the dried fruit, nuts (I prefer pecans, walnuts or pistachios) and a generous drizzle of honey. Flatten out the ingredients as much as possible.
- Sprinkle 1 tsp of Gabe's original and 1 tsp of Mama's Mediterranean spices around the solid portion of the brie.
- Replace the portion of the brie you cut out on top of all of this.
- Place the other puff pastry or pie crust over the top. Cut off any extra that seems too lumpy and use it as a decoration for the top. Pull the edges up and fold over to pinch. Use a fork to indent, design and seal the edges.
- Brush all over with the egg wash.
- Add the rosemary sprigs around the indented portion next to the edge of the crust and/or to the top center of the brie.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden.
Tips
I like to add a lot of great "stuffing" ingredients inside the cut out brie space. Decide what you want ahead of time and make sure to use a smaller portion of each until you know how much will fit in the small and large brie wheels. Then add more of everything once you can flatten it out. It all melts together inside the brie so mixing it is just fine.
This is also great reheated if you have leftovers. Keep it in the same dish you served it on to retain the shape. Reheat at 400 for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts again or the honey oozes out!
You can use whatever nuts (or no nuts), jam or dried fruit you prefer. The sweeter and more robust the better!
