Brie Thankful

Y'all, I have been slacking. Especially in the cheese realm. To make up for it, I wanted to share with you a brie recipe you’ll be thankful you know.

Baked Brie. 

Before I get into the cheesy goodness, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It is an often forgotten holiday but it’s, personally, my favorite. Despite the speckled past of the first Thanksgivings, how could you not love a holiday centered around food, spending time with your people (whomever they may be), and being thankful for the life you live? Life may not be going perfectly but when you look around, it is still pretty awesome. Simply for being alive and breathing with food in your belly and a roof over your head. My favorite podcast has a great minisode (The Jordan Harbinger Show's Even Monday Deserves Gratitude) that does a great job of explaining why gratefulness and appreciation of life is so important to our health and wellbeing. It isn’t about wanting more - its about being content and happy with what you have. Saying "yes" to life!

For Thanksgiving, I decided to forego the trip home to Virginia to extend my time in December. My momma came to visit instead so I had home come to me. We had planned to go to Milwaukee to check it out another upper Midwest city. Because of the traffic and the dreary Michigan weather, we decided to stay on the west side. It ended up being such a lovely trip and time with my mom. It is great example of how everything happens for a reason.

What were you thankful for this Thanksgiving? 

Now, to the good stuff! This recipe may be small but she be fierce.

It is really one of the simplest things to make but it's a gooey crowd pleaser. 

Let me say: toppings for this are a blank canvas. You can try anything that tastes good with brie - I have seen people do cranberries and walnuts. My favorite is plain honey. Yum! 

Ingredients:

1 wheel of Brie

1 roll of pastry dough or puff pastry dough

Honey (or other desired toppings)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap your wheel of brie and unroll the pastry dough. You can use crescent rolls but I have found the whole sheet does a better job keeping everything together. Cut the pastry dough about 3 inches along the short side, or about how much would still allow you to cover the wheel. Next, top your brie with whatever toppings you wish. If you opted for honey, drizzle a sizable (your choice) amount over the brie. Once all of the toppings are in place, begin folding the corners of the pastry dough to the middle of the wheel till the whole roll is folded. Check to see if there are any openings and try to fix any you find. Throw this puppy into your 8x8 ceramic dish. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the top of the dough looks golden brown and cooked through. 

I am telling you - if you bring this with some apple slices or crackers to this season’s potlucks, you will show stop. My favorite part of this is the initial cut that unleashes the melty goodness of the Brie. Oh my goodness. I am craving it just writing about it … I mean would you look all that melty goodness??!

What toppings would you try with yours?