Baked Brie

At Thanksgiving I wanted to experiment a little bit with cheese. 

I love cheese, but Ben is only a half hearted convert (thanks to the smelly Tirolean Bergkäse) so I rarely do much with it because I am the only one who will eat it. And that is not great for my girlish figure. So I must wait until I have guests to spread the load a bit.

This recipe I was anxious to try because I love turkey/brie/cranberry sandwiches and this was a bit of a riff on those same flavors. Plus brie is a very tame cheese, so it's a good place to start.

Serves 8-10
1 large sheet of puff pastry dough
1 round or wedge of Brie cheese
1 cup raspberry jam
1/2 cup almond slivers

apples or crackers for dipping

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees (176 C). If you choose to, start with cold brie and carefully cut off the top rind. You can leave it if you want, as it is edible, but some prefer to eat as little of it as possible. On a cookie sheet, lay out the puff pastry and put the brie on top. Spread jam on the brie, sprinkle the almonds on top of the jam, fold dough over, seal, and cut off excess.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown. Let cool for ten minutes before serving. Serve with apples or crackers.