Holiday Brie en Croute

By DWatkins23

Ingredients

• 1 sheet (1/2 pkg) Peperidge Farms frozen Puff Pastry sheets.
• 1 egg + 1 T water
• ½ cup apricot jam or seedless raspberry jam (we use Smuckers apricot simply fruit).
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries, softened (1 min in hot water)
• ¼ cup toasted almond slices
• Crackers

Preparation

Step 1

1. Thaw pastry sheet at room temperature 30 min. Preheat oven to 400. Mix egg and water and set aside. 2.Unfold pastry onto lightly floured surface. Roll ino 14” square. Cut off corners to make a circle. Spread preserves to within 1” of edge of pastry. Sprinkle cranberries and almonds over preserves. Top with the brie. Brush edges of circle with egg mixture. Fold two opposite sides over cheese. Trim remaining two sides 2” from edge of cheese. Fold these two sides onto the round. Press edges to seal. Place seam side down on baking sheet. Decorate tops with pastry scraps if desired. Brush with egg mixture. 3. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

This is an exact copy of the recipe from Peperidge Farms. It seems odd to trim two edges after spreading with preserves and cranberries. I have never done it quite this way. I started out slicing the brie horizontally and putting the preserves, etc. between the slices since this is the way other recipies for baked brie (from Peperidge) do it. Once, recently, my wife simply pasted the preserves on top of the brie (or top and bottom) and layered with the cranberries. Worked very well – was delicious. I usually skip the almonds. We cook seam side up in this case.

The recipe calls for standing 1 hour after cooking. We serve it hot. We transport in a heated container, or microwave it briefly at destination. It is much better if the brie is warm and melted.

I usually use an 8-ounce round of brie and use enough preserves to cover 1/8” thick and enough cranberries to completely cover (probably about 1/3 cup preserves and 1/6 cup cranberries). I have put two wedges together when could not get round. Sliced rounds or wedges usually leak some in cooking – still tastes good.

Variations: ¼ cup toasted almonds and ¼ cup parsley.

Another favorite is chopped dried apricots soaked in enough apricot brandy to leave the cots sticky.


The cranberries and apricot allfruit (or Smuckers simply fruit) seems to be the favorite. No matter how it is done it is great, though I think the best was when the apricot simply fruit and cranberries were spread on the unsliced brie then wrapped.