Fall Brie En Croute

Here's a super easy way to make a Brie en Croute that adds in all the goodies of our fall season.  It takes about 5 minutes to prep.

Ingredients:
1 can of crescent roll dough
8 oz wheel of Brie
1/3 C chopped pecans
1 T butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C dried cranberries
1/4 C brown sugar
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Soak cranberries in water for a minute or two to take the edge off, then drain and pat dry.
3. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter.  Stir in pecans and cinnamon, toasting for 3 minutes.
4. Roll out crescent dough on a cookie sheet.  Place Brie, toasted pecans, cranberries, and brown sugar on top.  Wrap crescent dough around the goodness.
5. Brush top and sides of dough with beaten egg.
6. Bake for 15-20, or until nicely baked and browned.

Caramelized Pecan Brie

I love a good baked brie.  Here's a way to dress up your brie and still have an amazing dish...

Ingredients:
6" round Brie
1/2 C lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 C corn syrup
1/4 C unsalted butter
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C pecan halves (chopped, if you prefer)


Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup and butter over medium heat.  Stir until boil, then boil gently (NO STIRRING) for a minute.
2. Remove from heat, and quickly whisk in baking soda.  Then, stir in salt and pecans.  Let set for about 30 seconds.
3. Finally, mound warm nut mixture (hehe...) on top of Brie, enabling the caramel to artfully cascade down the sides.  I served it in a borl to make it easier to serve, but I'm sure I'd fine a pretty cascading picture if I looked online.  Too lazy, peeps, sorry!

Fancy Schmancy!

 

My mom and I co-hosted a Pampered Chef party while I was home last week. My mom LOVES throwing parties, and any one who has been to one of her parties knows you're going to have a good time, or at least some great food to eat.  Needless to say, the pressure was on to make some great PC food, in addition to some other recipes that she had been wanting to try.

Today, I want to share with you an appetizer that didn't take too long to make, but it impressed the socks off of everyone: Honey Apple Brie Bites.  At first, when I read through the recipe, I was a bit worried about the Phyllo cups.  As you may well remember, phyllo and I DO NOT get along!  I think I just don't have the patience, or maybe my hands aren't dainty enough, but either way, I did not want to repeat that ordeal again...especially in a high stress challenging situtation like one of my mother's parties...

Luckily, this recipe calls for pre-made phyllo cups, and I didn't even have to work that hard to hunt them down.  They were waiting for me right in the dessert section of the grocery store.

The recipe is easy to follow, and they were quick to make, although 30 mini phyllo cups don't really hold all the stuffing I made.  I could probably have cut everything in half and still been okay.  There may be bigger cups that weren't at my grocery store, but the mini ones really don't hold a lot.  Luckily, everyone LOVED them, and 10 people when through about 22 cups in the blink of an eye.  On the plus side, everyone wanted the recipe, and they were also super impressed with how easy they were to make.

I'll make these again, and maybe I'll find bigger cups to use.  Regardless, they ROCKED, and deserve a second feeding - maybe I'll even make some for my husband!

Yeah, I can't really do fancy, but I certainly can try!!

As an added bonus, my best friend also hosted a small party while I was in town.  We did a far less challenging menu, and made it more of a playdate for her mommy friends.  Works for me, a show is a show!

However, she made the most amazingly simple munchy that I had to share...

I couldn't believe this - it was so tasty!  All she did was take a Ziploc, Gallon Size, bag and add 1 bag of oyster crackers, drizzled about 2 T of oil, and added one packet of  Kraft Ranch Salad Dressing, and then she shook the whole thing to mix well.  She said you can add about 1/2 cup of oil and let it sit so it melts in your mouth when you eat it, but who needs all those calories?!  It was delicious as is.

See?  The Pampered Jes can take you to either side of the appetizer spectrum...  we've got something for everyone, so tell you friends to stop by - and eat up, because there's more to come!