Brie(nne of) Tarts
I don't love many things as much as I love Game of Thrones, but cheese is one of those things. For the Game of Thrones finale this past weekend, I decided to put together a little feast, so obviously cheese had to be involved in one dish or another (or a couple different ones). And since we established a few weeks ago around the season premiere that I love puns, Brie(nne of) Tarts were on the menu!
Brie is one of those cheeses that can be used for sweet or for savory dishes, and I love it for that versatility. Not to mention that it's deliciously creamy, and melts down into an amazing consistency when warm! One of the best and easiest appetizers, in my opinion, is some kind of baked brie. Whether you wrap a full round and bake it that way, or make individual pop-able bites, it's always a good treat. I tend to go for appetizers that are easily distributed and consumed, which is why I like to make tiny tarts!
While I personally love to use raspberry or apricot jam to pair with the brie in these tarts, there are really endless options. You could drizzle some honey and add some toasted coconut flakes for a more unique flavor, or you could add thin slices of fig or apple, or even cranberry sauce with pecans! Because brie works for savory bites as well, I'd even be willing to give pepper jelly a try in these too. For my purposes, though, I am usually looking for something sweet, and when I'm making a lot of things at once, I'm all about simplifying whatever I can. All this recipe takes is three ingredients!
Whether you use pie crust or crescent dough with these doesn't matter much, but if you do opt to use crescent dough, be sure you very firmly crimp the dough edges together when finishing each little tart! Crescent dough doesn't stick together quite as well as pie crust does. It does give the tarts an especially buttery taste and a thinner "crust", though, so it's worth the trouble to try crescent dough if that sounds like it suits your tastes!
Be sure to serve these little guys when they're warm – the brie is gooey and delicious and more flavorful that way. They reheat pretty easily in a toaster oven or conventional oven, so there's no excuse to enjoy these in any way less than their best!
BRIE TARTS
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: ~7 minutes
Ingredients
refrigerated pie crusts or crescent dough
1 wedge brie, rind mostly scraped off
raspberry or apricot jam
Directions
Preheat your oven to the temperature listed with the refrigerated dough, whether you use pie crusts or crescent dough. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the dough and cut it into small rectangles.
Cut your brie into small cubes that will fit nicely within the dough pieces you've cut – probably just smaller than a quarter of the rectangles' size.
Place a small amount of jam on each piece of dough, in the center of the rightmost half of the rectangle – remember we're going to need to be able to fold the dough over in half, so when loading each tart, you'll need to keep the filling just to one half of the dough. Then place a small amount of brie on each dab of jam.
Fold the other half of the crust over the top of the fillings. Then use a fork to crimp the dough edges together so the filling doesn't leak out while baking. When ready, place in the oven for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the size. Eat while warm!
Happy Eating,
Natalie