by Donna Cain
The Captain Freeman is closed for renovation and the remodeling is coming along nicely. Our other inn, Brewster by the Sea is open, and we have been enjoying many of the repeat guests that always come to enjoy the holiday events that are on Cape Cod this time of the year. This past weekend we had fun creating some new breakfasts for our guests. Local artisan cheeses are a wonderful pairing with many of our first course breakfasts. Over the years I have made many Baked Bries for cocktail or wedding parties but never thought to include one for breakfast. My husband Byron thought the Brie en croute would actually be a perfect first course and we were delighted with everyone’s reaction. Everyone thinks that the pastry part of this dish is hard. Truth be told, with the modern pastry dough that you can purchase in your freezer section, this dish is actually very easy to make.
- 1 round of Brie cheese
- 1 box Pillsbury Pastry Dough
- 1 egg
- 4 cups fresh whole cranberries
- 2 cups dried apricots, cut into cranberry size pieces
- 1 cup orange juice
- ¼ cup wine vinegar
- 2½ cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons Tabasco
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Combine the cranberries, apricots, orange juice, vinegar, sugar, Tabasco and the spices in a non reactive heavy saucepan. Heat slowly to simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for an hour and cool.
- This chutney recipe makes more then you will need for the Baked Brie but holds wonderfully in the frig to be used later.
- Preheat oven to 350
- Piece together the sheets of pastry dough so that you can completely wrap the brie in the dough.
- Place the Brie round in the center of the dough
- Add a thin layer of the chutney to the top of the Brie.
- Wrap the dough on top so that the Brie is completely covered in dough
- We like to cut out additional pieces of the dough in a leaf pattern to arrange on the top
- Beat one egg in a bowl with a fork. Egg wash the entire brie with the wash
- Bake for 45-60 minutes until golden brown.
- Let the Brie rest for about 10 minutes before serving.
We like to make a full recipe of the chutney to be enjoyed later. For the recipe above you will only need to use about a quarter of the chutney for the Brie. My favorite is to add the chutney on top of a burger-YUM!
We paired the brie with cinnamon, figs, grapes, pears and raspberry. Not only was it a perfect presentation, but not one bite came back to the kitchen……..our way to gauge if a new recipe was a success.
Happy Holidays and here is to sharing wonderful food with family and loved ones during this special time of the year.
My mouth is watering…yum! 🙂
What a wonderful idea – I could eat cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner!