Cranberry Brie En Croute
En Croute means encased in pastry. My daughter and I loved these little cranberry brie bundles that were sold at Loblaws under the President’s Choice label but they’ve been discontinued. They are basically small bite sized portions of what I’m presenting here.
Ingredients:
450 gram wheel of Brie (I used President’s Choice Double Cream Brie and it was the best I’ve ever had!)
1/3 cup of whole berry cranberry sauce (homemade or canned) – note: I adore cranberries and it’s what my daughter would be wanting too but I’ve made this before with apple, cherry, or peach pie filling instead and it’s really tasty too!
1 sheet of Phyllo or puff pastry (I used President’s Choice puff pastry – it came in a 450 gram package of 2 sheets so I used half the package)
1 egg, beaten
Optional ingredients: This is delicious if you sprinkle some slivered almonds, chopped walnuts, or chopped pecans over the cranberry sauce inside too. I didn’t do this because I had my daughter in mind and so was trying to make it as close to the ones she liked as possible but I love it with some kind of nuts in it as well!
Directions: This is so simple to make! Thaw the piece of puff pastry (it took about half an hour) and lay it, opened up flat, in a baking pan. You can use a baking sheet instead of an actual pan but it really should have raised edges around it in case any of the filling leaks out. I used a nonstick pan – if yours isn’t, you really should spray it with some kind of spray like Pam or line it with parchment or that easy release aluminum foil. Trim about 1/8 inch of the rind of the Brie from the top of the wheel. Place this cut side up on the sheet of pastry and top with the cranberry sauce (and nuts if using). Pull up the edges of the pastry to cover the filling. I just kind of pleated it as I went around and then twisted a knot at the top but you can trim away some of the extra dough if you prefer. If you do this, you can cut some leaf shapes or something festive from the extra dough to make little embellishments for the wheel. Now, at this point, you can simply cover this with plastic wrap and put it away until your guests arrive. I’ve made it as early as 12 hours prior to actually baking and serving. When ready to serve, if using some pastry scraps to make embellishments, you need to “glue” them onto the wheel with some of the beaten egg. You then need to brush beaten egg all over the whole pastry parcel. If there are any overlapping edges that don’t seem to be holding their seal very well, use some of the beaten egg to glue those together as well. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. As everyone who tried it said, when you cut into it, the inside is all melted and smooth and buttery!!!
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