Before diving into this project let’s break it down. Brie is a type of soft cheese and en croute simply means wrapped in pastry. The phonetic pronunciation is bree on kroot. A brie en croute consists of a round of brie cheese, topped with jam, and then wrapped in puff pastry. Place all of these components in the oven. The brie cheese gets soft and melty and the pastry gets brown and crispy… Yum! Making a brie en croute is such a fun way to personalize your food for a party. Since we had an UP party, we wanted to make this Brie En Croute with the UP letters. The possibilities for letters and symbols are endless!
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Let’s get started… Gather up all your ingredients. Read your puff pastry package instructions to see how long it needs to thaw. After the pastry unfolds easily, place it on your lightly floured work surface. Do not use too much flour on your work surface.
Roll out your dough long enough that the pastry fits around the brie (and you have a little bit extra for your letters). Keep checking that the pastry easily comes up on the top half and the bottom half.
Cut out your letters.
Spread your jam on top of the brie.
Put the brie on the pastry with the jam on the bottom.
Wrap the pastry around the brie.
Paint the backside of the letters with egg wash and place them on top of the pastry.
At this point, you can either egg wash your pastry and put it in the oven or wrap it cling wrap and freeze it.
Freezing the pastry ahead of the party is our favorite option! You will have plenty to do the day of the party, and there will be less mess. Make sure that you egg wash the pastry before you put it in the oven! Your baking time will be longer than 20 minutes if your pastry is frozen. Check your pastry around 40-50 minutes.
Brie En Croute
Ingredients
- 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry
- 13 oz wheel of brie
- 1/4 cup raspberry jam
- 1 egg, beaten
- crackers, for serving
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
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Defrost the puff pastry according to the package directions.
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Roll out the puff pastry slightly and trim so that you'll have enough to go around the wheel of brie.
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Spread the raspberry jam on top of the brie cheese.
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Wrap the puff pastry around the wheel of brie putting the edges on the bottom to completely enclose the brie cheese. Use the scraps of dough to cut out letters, shapes or anything else you'd like to use to decorate your Brie En Croute (From this point you can cover your Brie En Croute and put it in the refrigerator if you like).
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Beat one egg with 1 tablespoon of water to make an egg wash. Use the egg wash as a glue to attach the letters or shapes. (From this point you can cover your Brie En Croute and put it in the refrigerator if you like). Make sure to refrigerate your egg wash if you're making the pastry ahead of time.
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Brush the tops and sides of the brie en croute with your egg wash.
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Bake until golden brown for about 20 minutes (around 40 minutes if frozen). Let cool for 5 minutes and serve.
Recipe Notes
I love using Sarabeth's jams, especially for this recipe!
My favorite brand of puff pastry is Defour but the other brands at the grocery store are good options. If you don’t want to buy a case of this pastry below then you can also find it at Whole Foods. The nice thing about making this is that you can do all messy steps ahead of time and pop it in the oven right before the party.
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These baked bries always look so intimidating to me, but you made it look effortless and delicious!
Thanks Mariah! The baked bries really aren’t hard and can be made ahead of time too!
This looks really good! I have to try it for our Christmas Eve dinner. This is the first time I’m going to cook for my family 🙂
Thanks! You could cut out candy canes or something else for Christmas instead of the UP letters.
Wondering if I can make this with a vegan cheese too 🙂
I’m sorry I’ve never tried this with vegan cheese.
That was less complicated of a process than I imagined by looking at the opening image! I feel like I could do something like that!
Sure you could Reese! You can also make it ahead of time.
I love the idea of personalizing this with the letters. I’ve never tried to make this as it always seemed a little intimidating, but in looking through the steps, it seems like it’s actually fairly straightforward. I can’t wait to try it for my next holiday gathering.
Thanks Vicky! You could add holly leaves or something else that would match the Christmas theme.