Easy Christmas Appetizer: Elegant Baked Brie

Baked brie is a delicious and elegant appetizer for any holiday party, but the best part is that it is extremely simple, as well. There are also many variations on baked brie to fit your time, your budget and the supplies you have on hand.

In general you will need:

A wedge or wheel of brie cheese

Crust - pie crust, pastry crust, crescent rolls

Optional Fillings / Garnishes:

Jelly/Jam/Preserves

Chutney

"Butters" such as pumpkin butter, apple butter

nuts - almonds, pecan, etc

Garnishes

Almonds or other nuts

Extra pie crust

Garlic salt or powder

Parsley

Do you see how many variations there are? The options are yours for the choosing and, any way you bake it, it will be an elegant appetizer to serve to your guests.

You unroll the pie crust or rolls. Place the Brie in the center of the crust. Slice open the Brie to make a middle layer for your fillings. Add your chosen filling in between the slice brie layers (almost as if you are making a sandwich and the brie is the bread). Replace the top brie layer and fold the crust over top of the brie pinching the edges to seal the crust. If you are using crescent rolls you may want to reseal the seams where the dough was perforated for making the crescent shaped rolls). Place the wrapped cheese seam side down into a baking dish. (A small oven-safe dish works well, but you can use anything that you would use as a serving dish. I find a dish with sides works best, rather than a jelly roll pan or baking sheet, because it can sometimes melt and leak on the pan. When it is contained it makes less of a mess and it still suitable for serving.) The baking time will vary depending in the crust you use. It is best to follow the time and temperature listed on the package but I have found that 350-375 for about 15 minutes works well.

You can garnish the Elegant Baked Brie with sliced almonds or even extra dough or crust, but it is still delicious and tasty, even without any extras! To garnish with extra dough, take the extra dough aside before baking and form into designs or simple shapes. Place the designs on top of the wrapped up brie and bake as directed. For the holidays you could use a cookie cutter to cut out a tree, or other holiday shape.

Enjoy, be creative with this appetizer, have fun, and Merry Christmas!