Baked Brie en Croûte
An even more elegant way to serve this delicious cheese from the countryside surrounding Paris, wrapped in warm dough with a chutney filling.
This is a different way to go from the Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Baked Brie, a deliciously creamy cheese that originated from the countryside dairy farms surrounding Paris. In this alternate version, a simple, flaky dough is baked surrounding the cheese that can really accommodate any number of toppings to your liking, but this recipe calls for chutney.
Cross & Blackwell Major Grey’s Chutney
If you’re so inclined, you can make the Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Mango-Peach Chutney. But an easier way to go is with the decidedly most popular brand of commercially made chutneys on the US market, Major’s Gray’s recipe from Cross & Blackwell, which is really Smucker’s. Although Smucker’s is a publicly traded company, the majority stockholders are the Smucker family, descendants of Jeremiah McKinley Smucker, who founded the company known for its jams, jellies and peanut butter in 1897 in Orrville, Ohio, where the company's headquarters are still located today. Smucker’s acquired the Cross & Blackwell condiment in 2001. Absent this delicious relish, there are any number of suggestions for other toppings in the Kitchen Tapestry recipe for a simpler version of Baked Brie.
Unlike the original Baked Brie recipe, you will not use a ceramic Brie/Camembert Baker or else the dough would not properly bake. Any shallow baking vessel will do for this recipe, but do not use a dark sheet pan or cast iron skillet; use a white glass baking dish because a black dish, like cast iron, will scorch the bottom layer of dough.
Baked Brie en Croûte
Ingredients
- 8 oz wheel of Brie cheese (like, Président)
- 1 pkg 4-count croissant dinner roll dough (like, Pillsbury)
- 1/2 9-oz. jar of Major Grey's chutney (like, Cross & Blackwell)
- 2 rashers of bacon, fried crispy and chopped
- 2 oz sliced almonds
- 2 oz honey
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
Instructions
- Remove the brie wheel from its wrapping. Using a serrated knife, carefully slice away the top rind (about 1/8”) of the wheel.
- Allow the brie to come to room temperature for an hour. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
- Lay out two of the triangles of croissant dough and pinch the two triangles together, then using your finger tips, press the dough into a thin rectangular sheet. Repeat with the other two triangles.
- When the cheese has come up to temperature, slather the Major Grey's chutney on top of the wheel of cheese. Top with the bacon bits.
- Lay the wheel of cheese on top of one of the rectangles of dough and wrap the excess dough upwards along the sides of the wheel of cheese. Carefully place the other rectangle of dough on top of the wheel of cheese, and wrap it downward. Press the two sheets together so that the wheel of cheese is fully wrapped in dough.
- Spray non-stick cooking spray on a white or glass baking dish (do not use a black sheet pan, or the bottom dough with become scorched). Place the dough covered wheel of cheese in the baking dish and place the dish in the oven on a middle rack.
- After 20 minutes, the dough should be getting golden brown. Remove from the oven and drizzle the honey over the top of the wheel and sprinkle the almonds on top of the honey.
- Return it to the over for another 5 minutes. Allow the cheese to cool for about 5 minutes before cutting into it. It should be soft and slightly runny.
- Serve with petits toasts or assorted crackers.
