Baked Brie

This year, A. and I decided to do something unprecedented - we decided to stay home and throw ourselves a party. There was a menu, there were fancy clothes, there was an entire bottle of champagne, there were twinkle lights and presents and a whole lot of tipsiness... in other words, it was a totally awesome way to start the new year!

My dears - in this new year, I want to wish you all much health, happiness, luck, peace, love and prosperity. May our knives always be sharp and may our cuts heal quickly. Happy 2010!

Baked Brie

1 sheet of puff pastry, defrosted if frozen
1 standard sized triangle of brie
a little olive oil, for brushing

This is a ridiculously easy thing to make, and yet, this gets me the most accolades when I do make it. You take one sheet of defrosted puff pastry (I prefer to use all-butter puff pastry), you wrap it around a good-sized triangle of brie, you brush it with a little olive oil and you bake it at 425F for about 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is flaky and golden and the cheese is all melty and ooozy goodness. Ta-daa!

You can totally dress this up by cutting the cheese in half and layering it with a bit of brown sugar, raisins and sauteed apples. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right? But the beautiful thing is that you can serve it just simple-like - beautifully puffed pastry and a molten lava of cheese. It's the kind of marriage that needs no embellishments.