Baked Apricot Brie

my older half-sister introduced me to this recipe last Christmas. its a wonderful cheese-and-crackers combo rolled into one. gooey melted brie dotted with dried apricot slices, smothered with apricot jam and all wrapped up in puff pastry!
my sisters version was made with apricot paste and slices of preserved quince but i use homemade apricot jam and dried apricots.
its a tasty appetizer that can be made in single servings or large for parties :)


i must apologize for the photos, some are not very clear as my ipod touch needs a bit better lighting then it had in the kitchen.

these ingredient could be altered to tastes using other soft cheeses like Camembert and different fruits such as quince, cranberry etc.

Edibles
one wheel brie cheese (size depending on how any people you have)
thawed sheet of puff-pasty, enough to cover your cheese
Apricot jam
Dried apricots

Cookware
cutting board
knife
oven
serving plate

Thinly slice a few apricots into slivers. the amount you will need will depend on the size of your cheese, but I've found i usually only need 4-6 dried apricots.

Get your thawed pastry sheet and trim according to the size of your cheese. even though i was only using half a small wheel, i didn't cut this big enough so it didn't cover all the cheese and apricots. if this happens simply cover with another piece of pastry...(more about that in a few steps, don't cover your cheese yet)

place your cheese on top of your piece of pastry and sparingly smear with the jam. most jams are very sweet and to much with overthrow the nutty flavor of the cheese. i would recommend using a bit more then i did in these pictures as it wasn't quite sweet enough!. once you've covered the cheese in jam (no need to worry about the base) arrange slices of apricot all around your cheese. once again, don't do what i did as i only placed mine on two sides and as a result i ended up with half of it just tasting like cheese.

wrap or fold your pastry around the cheese, covering all the brie and apricots. if your going for the visually appealing, do this neatly. but as this was simply part of a family lunch i wasn't to fussed on looks. if not all of your cheese is covered, then cut another piece of pastry and cover it with that. try and press it to the shape of the cheese so that none of the melted brie leaks out during cooking (even if it does thats just a good indicator its cooked as sometimes the pastry won't turn golden)

place on a baking tray, add a few pastry cut outs if you like
you could also cut and cook the remaining pastry as crackers if you like.

cook in an oven at about 150 degrees (Celsius) for roughly fifteen or twenty minutes (once again the size might change this)
or until the pastry is crisp and or the cheese is oozing out. it might also change shape, flattening out. this means the cheese has lost its shape and melted :)

allow your cheese to cool for a few minutes before placing on a plate and serving with extra apricots and/or crackers. when its cut, gooey nutty-sweet apricot flavored cheese should melt out
enjoy!

thank you for reading my instructable
if you have any questions, suggestions, comments or spotted an error, please leave a message below or PM me :)
AAG :D