Baked Brie

I had to follow up my cranberry sauce recipe with this one for baked brie, because sometimes I add my cranberry sauce to it (you could also use dried cranberries). I make this dish for parties and potlucks all the time. It looks so fancy and gourmet, but in reality it's one of the easiest things I can think to make for these occasions. It's always a hit! I've made this so many times that of course I had to give it a few of my own little tweaks, but the original recipe came from our very good friend Grey. I'm not sure where she picked it up, but I owe her a lot of thanks for it!

Baked Brie (Brie en Croute, if you want to sound fancy)

Ingredients
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, pre-packaged
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup walnuts
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 (8-ounce) wheel Brie
1/4 c brown sugar
1 pear or apple, sliced (optional)
cranberry sauce* or dried cranberries (optional)
1 egg, beaten
Crackers, for serving

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 375 F.
2) Defrost puff pastry for approximately 20 minutes and unfold.
3) In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Saute walnuts in the butter until golden brown, approximately 5 minutes. Add cinnamon and brown sugar, stir until walnuts are coated well.
4) Lay puff pastry out on a baking sheet. Place brie in the center of the pastry. Place the sliced apples or pears on top of the brie (optional), and place walnut mixture on top next, followed by the cranberries (optional).

5) Gather up the edges of the brie, pressing around the brie and gather at the top. Gently squeeze together the excess dough and tie together with a piece of kitchen twine.
6) Brush the beaten egg over top and side of Brie.
7) Place Brie on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 min until pastry is golden brown.
8) Serve with crackers.

9)To give a special look, cut extra pastry into heart or flower shapes and bake until golden (I've never actually done this step, but they can look really cute!).

* If you decide to put cranberry sauce on the brie, you will want to use thick cranberry sauce and don't overdo it, or it will get pretty sloppy while cooking.

enjoy!
~ j