Baked Brie In Crust, be it a puff pastry or leftover pie dough, makes for a perfect accompaniment to cocktail hour or movie night!
Pie Crust Leftovers
Baked brie in leftover pie dough takes appetizers to a whole new level of delicious frugality. There always seems to be a little left-over pie dough when I make pies.
These delicious pie crust scraps make for the perfect appetizers.
Use them the same day as they were prepared, or flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, and freeze until needed.
Brie In Crust For Cocktail Time
When cocktail time demands a quick appetizer, take the pie crust out of the freezer and let it come to room temperature.
Snap! Just like that, you have the perfect pastry to wrap around a small wheel of brie.
Or simply stack a tight tower of cheese scraps into the dough, which will all melt together inside the crust, for a luscious appetizer.
No Limit To What Can Go Inside Of A Crust
First of all, let’s have a quick chat about what a ‘crust’ is.
Whether it is a pie crust, puff pastry or even a bread dough, wrapping a crust around anything, sweet or savory, is cause to celebrate a meal.
Crust, is basically flour and fat molded into a dough that do not rise when baked.
I’ve always loved baking breads, and so for me, using a bread dough to bake ingredients inside makes for an easy and comforting meal.
- Stromboli – think ‘pizza’ rolled into a loaf, with cheeses, meats or roasted veggies inside.
- Bread Crust Potato Tart – with shallots, thyme and grated hard cheese is the ultimate in comfort food; bread, potatoes and cheese!
However, a pie crust, sweet or savory, surely lends to many other comforting meals to bake inside.
- Shiitake Mushroom Galette – with meaty shiitake mushrooms, white wine, herbs and a buttery pastry dough, freshly harvested shiitake.
- Beef and Oyster Pie – is my take on a popular pub pie, simmered in Guinness, topped with pastry and served with raw oysters.
- Pork Pot Pie – puff pastry wrapped Pork Pot Pie, elevated with chestnuts, butternut squash, smoked elements and passion fruit drippings.
Cheese Baked In Crust
There is hardly a cheese that doesn’t taste scrumptious baked inside of some type of a pastry crust; even dairy-free cheeses baked inside of gluten-free crusts.
Basically, the feta melted inside of phyllo dough is what I love most about Spanakopita; the spinach is my health excuse to eat them!
With so many types of cheese to choose from, from a variety of types of milk, you simply have to find your favorite type of taste.
Brie, however, being so soft, gooey and easy to melt, makes for a great surprise when cutting into a baked crust.
Baked Brie In Crust With Fruit
For an added touch, put some fruit inside the pastry before baking, or simply add dried fruit and nuts on top drizzled with a little honey before serving, for an unforgettable cheese appetizer!
Baked Brie In Phyllo Dough Crust
Having grown up in a Middle Eastern influenced kitchen, we fast learned that everything is better wrapped inside phyllo dough.
Lightly brush a little melted butter or some olive oil between a few layers of phyllo dough, set a disk of brie inside, wrap it up like a present, brush again with butter or oil and bake. Fabulous!
Baked Brie In Puff Pastry
In my kitchen I always have a box of puffed pastry and phyllo dough in my freezer. In a snap, you’d be surprised how many decadent meals or appetizers you can pop out of your oven with either of these two treasures tucked away in the freezer.
They need only two hours to thaw room temperature or if you know a day ahead, simply put the box in the fridge from the freezer. Ready when you are.
Roll it out on a floured surface, lay the brie in the center, wrap, brush with egg-wash, bake and dress with fruits and nuts or a generous sprinkle of fresh herbs.
If you have leftover Cranberry Compote, around holiday season, it makes for a delicious topping on the baked brie in crust.
How To Make Baked Brie In Crust
First we will want to decide if our baked brie in a crust is going to be sweet or savory.
Mostly this matters if we are making the crust ourselves.
For a savory baked brie, with something earthy, like sauteed mushrooms, adding a splash of mustard to the crust, makes for a lovely surprise in the taste of the crust.
However for either sweet or savory, the steps are basically the same:
Then, we will roll out the crust to fit the size of the cheese, and all its sides.
If using phyllo dough, it still needs to be layered to fit the size of the cheese.
Second, once the cheese and any fillings we want inside, are set on top of the crust, we fold all the edges completely around the cheese.
Like wrapping a package, trimming excess which can be used for trimming or rolled out to make more.
Last, an egg wash, consisting of a whipped egg with a drizzle of water or cream whisked in, is brushed generously all around the crust.
Baked until the dough is golden brown, allowing to sit for 10-minutes before slicing.
Ingredients Needed
- Pie Crust
- Small Brie wheel
- Egg
- Dried fruits
Equipment Needed
- Rolling pin
- Pastry cutter
- Baking sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- Basting brush
- Oven
Brie Isn’t The Only Cheese You Know!
How often do you end up with scrapes of an assortment of cheese in your fridge? Yep! Me too.
Once a pie dough is rolled out, puff pastry or phyllo dough, simply layer a mound of cheese scraps in the center, wrap the dough neatly around, egg wash and bake.
Well ‘boom’, the perfect appetizer using leftover pastry and leftover cheeses! Aren’t we the frugal ones!
Baked Brie In Crust
Equipment
- Baking sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- Basting brush
Ingredients
- 1 Pie crust homemade or store bought
- 8 oz Small wheel of Brie
- 1 Egg wash for egg wash
- Toppings – dried or fresh fruits, nuts or fresh herbs (optional)
Instructions
- Roll out the dough large enough to wrap completely around the cheese, like a present.
- Set the cheese in the center. Carefully wrap the dough around the cheese, turn it over and seal the edges neatly on the underside. Place on a parchment paper lined baking tray.
- Whisk the egg with a drizzle of water into an egg wash. Generously brush the entire pastry with the egg wash.
- Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until dough is golden.
Video
Notes
- Puff pastry can be used just as you would a pie crust. Phyllo dough can also be used simply by layering 3 layers of the dough, each layer brushed with a little olive oil, then wrap and bake just as you would pie crust dough.
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.