Sweet and Sour Pumpkin Pickles in Puff Pastry

Mmm…Sweet and sour pumpkin pickles in puff pastry…say that three times fast! This is a fun and festive way to keep the Halloween spirit going all the way through to Thanksgiving and maybe even to Christmas (if those pumpkin pickles last that long!)

To make your own puff pastry wrapped pickled pumpkin, you will need...well, pickled pumpkin! Before you start searching the shelves of your local grocery for this, let me save you some time and just share with you my own recipe for sweet and sour pumpkin pickles. They're delicious and so easy to make!

• 1 package of puff pastry dough, thawed
• Bit of flour for your work surface
• 1 half-pint jar of pumpkin pickles (about a full cup)
• 1 Round of brie
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 3 feet of clean cotton string cut into 3 equal1 foot long pieces
• Green food coloring
• Red food coloring
• Yellow food coloring
• Cinnamon powder, for dusting
• French bread baguette, sliced into thin rounds
• Honey

Pre-heat your oven to 400F/205C.

In a bowl, whisk together your egg and tablespoon of water until well combined.

Carefully unfold your puff pastry dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a size of approximately 12” square.

Drain your jar of pumpkin pickles and gently place in the center of your rolled-out puff pastry dough (make sure to remove the cloves and cinnamon sticks as well.)

Place your brie wheel on top of your pickle chunks.

Carefully start folding up the edges of your puff pastry up and over your cheese and pumpkin pickle pile.

Use a light wash of egg and water to seal the edges down.

As you fold, trim off the excess dough and set aside for now. We’ll be using it in a bit.

Once your dough is completely sealed over your cheese and pumpkin pickle pile, carefully flip it over, seam side down.

Take your three pieces of string and knot together in the very center.

Place your knotted string in the middle of a baking sheet and arrange the strings out in a six-armed spoke pattern.

Put your pumpkin brie directly in the center of your knotted string, seam side down.

Divide your remaining egg wash in half. To one half, add a few drops of green food coloring. To the other half, add enough red and yellow (about one drop red to 6 drops yellow) to turn a nice deep orange.

Using a food-safe pastry brush, brush the entire exterior of your brie pumpkin with the orange egg wash.

Once you’ve finished painting your pastry, start carefully tying the strings together, opposite side to the opposite side. Don’t worry about tying them too tightly against the pastry. As it cooks, it will puff up.

Trim off the excess string.

Gather together the scraps of dough you cut off and roll out.

Cut out a few small leaves and paint green with the green egg wash.

Use extra wash to adhere to the top of your pumpkin, making sure to avoid covering the cotton strings. A few thin long strands of dough painted green can be used for vines.

To create a stem, twist together some dough into a stem shape and hold up with a small ball of tin foil. Bake this separately from your pumpkin. We will attach it at the end.

Dust the top of your pumpkin with a light dusting of cinnamon and pop into the oven to cook for approximately 20 minutes. (If you find that you have any extra dough left over, wrap it around a small pat of butter sprinkled with a generous amount of cinnamon and bake it along with the rest of the items. It’s a sweet little way to reward yourself for all this hard work.)

Once your brie pumpkin is done baking, remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Carefully cut your cotton strings and remove from the pumpkin (this can take a bit of gentle tugging so be careful!)

To attach your pumpkin stem, dot the center of the top of your pumpkin with a bit of honey and use that to glue down your stem.

Serve your brie puff pastry pumpkin with a generous selection of baguette slices and crackers while still warm for maximum ooziness!

Bone appetite!