My oldest daughter and I were at the store doing our weekly grocery shopping, and we decided that this week we wouldn’t skimp on the cheese in any of the recipes. We were in the deli section of our mega market buying fresh mozzarella, grated parmesan, and a block of Swiss cheese when I saw a round of Brie. I’ve been wanting a baked brie for a while, but all the kids who eat it have moved out of the house…and a full round is too much for me to eat alone. Well, I can eat it, but then I can’t leave the table for days! Now that my oldest has moved back home though, the opportunity arose. So I bought the Brie.
I started searching for recipes and found a great one at Full Measure of Happiness, but the darned thing called for phyllo dough. Let’s just say that phyllo dough and I have a history. While I’m perfectly capable of working with it, I choose not to. I hate the papery, sticky, gets-hard-too-quickly-unless-you-baby-it stuff. I love the taste, but I hate working with it. And while “hate” is a strong word, phyllo dough is one of those things in the kitchen that I really do hate.
Then it dawned on me that I could use crescent rolls and get a slightly thicker, but appetizing effect. So off to the store we went. On the way there, I was explaining what I was going to do, and I remembered that somebody makes sheets of uncut crescent dough. Of course, I couldn’t remember the manufacturer, and I knew that I’d only seen it in the store once. But undeterred I marched to the refrigerator section and started searching. And I continued to search. And I kept searching. I kept explaining to my daughter what it was, and she kept looking at me like I was crazy. Fortunately, Pillsbury does make their Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations Seamless Dough Sheet. And our local Dillons grocery store (a Kroger brand) carried it, and I’d gone to the right part of the store to find it. That may sound odd, since most stores have only one refrigerator section, but our new mega store has things tucked away in the oddest corners. Not to mention that there is are at least four refrigerator sections.
When I got home, I checked the Pillsbury website and found a recipe for Crescent-Wrapped Brie. But, I’m not a huge fan of egg-washes. It’s usually because I don’t take enough time to beat the egg enough, so I get an uneven coating of egg on the dough, and it looks weird, and tastes weirder. So I decided that I would use butter instead (like in the first recipe). But, to make it even more interesting, I decided to add a bit of Cinnamon and Nutmeg to the butter. This proved to be an amazing addition, which not only made the crescent dough feel lighter, but infused a great deal of flavor into the crescent casing, that might have otherwise overwhelmed the brie.
As a final addition to the combined recipes, I put a layer of Oregon Red Raspberry Preserves
I’d love to offer you leftovers…but there weren’t any. I guess you’ll just have to make your own.
