I’ve never met a cheese that I didn’t like.
For those of you that have followed my work for a while (and for those of you that are new and just discovering my recipes and videos), you might have noticed that I enjoy cooking with (and eating!) cheese.
Snacking cheese, anyone?
Soft cheese, hard cheese, stinky cheese, aged cheese, heck, even processed cheese. I don’t discriminate when it comes to the world of cheese.
Today, however, we’re focusing on brie cheese.
Brie is a soft-ripened, cow’s milk cheese (sometimes goat) with a rind and comes from the town of Brie in France. The flavor is often rich and buttery and the texture is creamy and often runny. Brie’s sister-cousin, Camembert, has a more funky flavor, and can also be used in this recipe. And yes, you can eat the white rind of both.
Store brie in the fridge; once open, eat it within two weeks. Brie should be fresh and white; if it turns brown or yellow and has a sour smell, it might be off.
Usually, when cheeses get moldy, you CAN cut away the mold and still eat it, but make sure to cut off all of the mold and be sure that the knife doesn’t have mold on it and contaminate the good stuff. According to the USDA, however:
“Some molds are used to make certain kinds of cheeses including (Roquefort, blue, Gorgonzola, Stilton, Camembert, and Brie). The mold on these cheeses is safe to eat. Mold on other types of cheeses should not be there. Discard any soft cheese showing mold. For hard cheese, such as Cheddar, cut off at least 1-inch around and below the mold spot (keep the knife out of the mold itself). After trimming off the mold, the remaining cheese should be safe to eat. Re-cover the cheese in fresh wrap and keep refrigerated.”
So do with that what you will.
But onwards to our recipe!
Baked brie with dates and pistachios!!
I love to make this for guests…or just as a snack for myself tbqh. I know some people love to wrap brie in puff pastry, which is great as well. But this is just such a simple non recipe-recipe. You can play around with what ingredients that you add on top. I love the combination of dates and pistachios, but feel free to use almonds or hazelnuts instead. I bet barberries or cranberries would add a fun, tart flavor as well.
Crosshatching the cheese before topping and baking helps the cheese to heat evenly (and ensures that it doesn’t erupt / burst as it bakes…although, I wouldn’t be mad about it if it did, ya know?).
Did you hear about the cheese factory explosion in France?
All that was left was de-brie.
Anyway, I love this recipe and I hope you make it. Comment below if / when you do, or tag me on IG!
xoxo
Baked Brie with Dates and Pistachios
Serves 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons honey
4 medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon roughly chopped shelled pistachios
1 lemon
olive oil, for drizzling
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 350°F. Using a knife, make slits in the top of the brie, spacing them about ½-inch apart, taking care to only cut through the rind and not all the way through the cheese. Turn the brie 90° and score more slits perpendicular to the initial cuts, keeping the same ½ inch spacing.
Place the brie in a small baking dish. Drizzle with the honey and top with the dates and pistachios. Zest the lemon over the top then squeeze over some of its juice. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with some flaky salt. Bake until soft, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately with bread or crackers.
Looks fancy chef. Thanks for the help. I'm so not fancy 😂
I'm still at odds with this 😂. Told my wife about it and she immediately bought ingredients. Did I mention, I'm not fancy? So went to the butchers market and got some big ribeye's, multiple breads and a few other cheese types. Had to get more dates though. This quirky woman snacked on all but the three she left in the container!
Doing your pizza dough tonight for some Detroit pie's! So excited!