Pepper Jelly Brie En Croute

Do you know how hard it is to use an entire jar of pepper jelly?  I was pumped about making this recipe because I figured I'd use up both the sliced almonds and pepper jelly in my pantry but alas, I only used up a little bit of each so I'm not any better off than I was yesterday in the "less crap in my pantry" department.  Oh well.



I made this for CA and I to share on New Year's Eve.  We were being super lame and stayed in that night since we were still recovering from the previous holiday.   He made Beef Wellington which also uses puff pastry and resulted in me sprawled out on the couch in a butter coma.  It was also freakin' delicious but I was too busy making brie and side dishes and dessert (which you'll hear about soon) to pay attention to what he was doing.  If you know him you can ask him how he did it but he refuses to write down the recipe mash-up for me.

I'm a big fan of brie wrapped in puff pastry.  Who wouldn't love melty cheese wrapped in buttery pastry?  I was excited to see that our grocery store had small portions of brie because CA and I couldn't shouldn't eat an entire wheel of cheese by ourselves.


All previous times I've had Brie En Croute (I don't like the name of this because it sounds too snobby - I wish there was another way to say cheese wrapped in pastry dough that sounded less pretentious) it's had some kind of sweet jam hiding inside the dough with the cheese.  I've always liked it but while looking through my pantry for something to spread on this cheese, I spotted the pepper jelly and knew it would be perfect! 

In addition to the cheese and the pepper jelly, I added a little bit of crunch with some sliced almonds.  All of that gets wrapped up in some puff pastry.  We went the store bought route for the puff pastry as all the homemade puff pastry in the freezer is destined for the last few Bouchon Bakery recipes.  This stuff performed better than my homemade version which is frustrating considering how much work it takes to make it.

CA and I were both huge fans of this variation.  The brie is gooey and melty.   The almonds are nutty and crunchy.  The pepper jelly is also melty and gooey but spicy too which is what I think really makes this an interesting appetizer.

Unfortunately, I still have a lot of pepper jelly to deal with but if it means making this 10 times I'm OK with that.

Pepper Jelly Brie En Croute

Ingredients
1/4 sheet Puff Pastry
4 oz. Brie
2 T Pepper Jelly
2 T Almonds
1 Egg

Instructions
Roll the puff pastry out to a 5" by 10" rectangle.  Place the cheese in the center of the puff pastry.  Top with pepper jelly and almonds. 

Place the egg in a small bowl and whisk to a uniform consistency.

Brush the edges of the puff pastry with the egg.  Wrap the cheese in the pastry ensuring that the cheese is completely enclosed in the dough.

Place the wrapped cheese on a baking sheet, seam side down and brush the entire top with the egg.  Cut a few slits in the top of the dough to allow steam to escape.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and set.

Enjoy!
Julie