Sunday, December 9, 2012

Me and Brie

I had found this recipe on Pinterest about a month ago, and I had been wanting to find the best occasion to make it. I had thought about doing it for Thanksgiving, but it just didn't work out. I am actually glad it didn't because last night was a much better occasion for it. Last night was our annual wine and cheese party. Five years ago, we started the tradition of having a wine and cheese party. I love trying out new wines, and several of my friends do, too. So, we have made sure to keep up with the tradition every year. Anyway, since this is a wine and cheese party, I figured it was a great time for this recipe. The recipe is called Cranberry Baked Brie, and from the picture on Pinterest, I thought it looked delicious. Plus, the few times I have eaten brie, it was paired with fruit and I loved it. So, I was determined to try it out.

I have already attached the link for the recipe (click on "Cranberry Baked Brie"), but I took a few more pictures last night to help give more of a visual while I talk about it.

The first thing to do is to toast the pecans. 


This, of course, was really easy. I just wish the pieces had been smaller. So, if you can find chopped pecans, I would get those. All I could find was pecan pieces, and some of them were big pieces.

While these were toasting, I was opening up the brie. The recipe calls for a 16 oz. circle of brie, but I got a 13 oz. It was still a pretty good size. 

Anyway, I opened up the brie and took the wrapper off. I swore it had another wrapper on, so I was trying and trying to peel it off. I swore it was just really stuck on there, so I eventually took a butter knife and scraped off one of the sides. While I was doing this, I started to question my actions. So, I got online and realized that the white outside is supposed to be there. Oops! I figured it would all still work out after scraping off that side. I just put the scraped side at the top. That way the ingredients would all cover it. Next time I will know not to do that. The only issue scraping off the side caused was that it melted out a little more than it would have.


You can see how it melted out the side. Oh well. It all just tasted the same. 

Before putting it in the oven to melt, you add the brown sugar on top. Then you bake it. 

While that is baking, it is time to make the syrup that will go over the top. That is combination of maple syrup and brown sugar. It was really easy to do.

Once the brie is soft enough, you take it out of the oven, put dried cranberries and the toasted pecans all over the top, and then drizzle the syrup over it. After you do all of that, this is what you end up with:


This was the end result. I got a variety of crackers to put the dip on, and there was hardly any of this left at the end of the night. Everyone kept going back for more. The combination of the salty brie with the sweetness of the brown sugar, maple syrup, and dried cranberries worked so well together. One of my guests said that it reminded them of a breakfast dish. 

Again, I wish the pecans were smaller, and so next time, if I can't find smaller pieces, I will chop them up more. I also won't scrape off the side. Everything else, however, I will do the same way. 





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