Baked Brie Appetizer
My parents love to host parties and when there’s a party, there’s a baked brie. This has been a tried and true holiday appetizer for many years. I started making it myself when I went away to college and have passed it along to many friends. It’s easy to make and a delicious appetizer on it’s own or paired with cheese, crackers and a charcuterie board!
Ingredients
- 1 Round Triple Creme Brie (small or large)
- ½ cup Dried Cranberries
- ½ cup Chopped Walnuts (best toasted in butter & brown sugar)
- 1 package of Pillsbury Breadstick dough (comes in a can or make your own ahead of time!)
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- (mix and match nuts or dried fruit as you prefer)
- Optional: 2 Granny Smith Apples (sliced) or crackers for dipping
- * Small spring form pan (best) or cookie sheet and aluminum foil also needed
Directions
- Remove the flat bottom of a spring form pan. Cover it with aluminum foil and then replace it, locking it securely inside the pan. Check that it is tight!
- With a sharp knife carefully remove only the top skin of the brie; do not remove the skin on the sides or the bottom. Place the brie in the middle of the spring form pan and set aside.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees
- In a skillet on the stove, toast the nuts in butter, adding a pinch of brown sugar at the end, stir constantly and don’t let it burn! Remove the nuts, place them on wax paper to cool, spaced out and not touching one another. Set aside the nuts, brown sugar and cranberries.
- Open the Pillsbury dough and separate it into 3 fairly thick strands. Smush one end of the three strands together and create a braid, connecting again at the other end.
- Mold the dough braid around the outside of the brie (you may need to stretch or manipulate the braid to fit all the way around).
- With a spoon, scoop and evenly spread the brown sugar across the top of the brie (covering the entire open side of the brie, where you had sliced the waxy top off). Sprinkle the cranberries and cooled nuts on top. The brie is ready to bake!
- Bake the brie for only about 10 minutes at 400 degrees. (Make sure not to over-bake the brie, burning the bread).
- Remove from the oven and carefully release the spring form and serve directly on the aluminum foil covered pan, if desired. Your brie should be gooey and the bread warm and fluffy.
- Serve with sliced apples (granny smith pair well), crackers, or anything you’d like to dip in the brie. The bread around the brie is fair game as well.