Savory Shortcut - Baked Brie

Hello everyone,

I know my shortcuts are normally sweet, but I thought I would add an occasional new feature with savory dishes.  This appetizer is great for family get togethers, dinner parties, cocktail parties, etc.  I owe this recipe to my dear friend Laurie - she made it for book club a while ago, and I told her I was SO impressed that she made it with puff pastry.  She laughed and explained that it was actually just Pillsbury crescent roll dough!

Ingredients:

One 8 ounce wheel of brie cheese, at room temperature
One 8 ounce roll of refrigerated crescent roll dough
Non-stick spray

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Pop open your roll of crescent dough, and unroll it on your sprayed cookie sheet, until you see the dotted line halfway through.

Place the wheel of brie in the center of the half of the dough, like so:

Life the other half and drape it over the brie.

You will have some extra dough on the sides, and you have two options - trim the excess off, or curl the dough up around the brie, like I do:

The last step is to pinch any dotted seams you see, so no one knows your secret!

Place the brie on a middle rack in your 400 degree oven, and bake for 10 to 20 minutes - a good way to see if it's done is to stick a knife in the center of the brie and lift it out.  You should see melted cheese on it.  If you don't, continue baking and check again in a few minutes.

When you take it out of the oven, you'll see a gorgeously browned pastry:

Look at that melted cheese!!

With a large spatula, move the brie to a plate or platter.  You can add apple slices or grapes, if you'd like.  I serve my baked brie with a side of seedless raspberry jam.  It may sound odd to you, but the combination is amazing!

I hope you like this savory shortcut…I think you'll use it again and again (my family and friends ask me to make it all the time)!  Plus, it's nice to have an appetizer that you can whip up in no time.

One last note - if you can only get brie in wedges, the concept is the same.  Just carefully wrap the wedge in the crescent roll dough and bake as above.

- Sugar Baby