Brie Pops

I knew as soon as I saw these appetizers on tastespotting that I would make them, I just had to wait patiently for an occasion and then, not one but two parties came up. I know what you are thinking "Wow, that chick has been invited to two parties. She must be popular"



I have been invited to two parties within a month of one another approximately 4 times in the last decade (if we don't count kid's birthday parties) so I will just quit my bragging right now. I was just thrilled to know that there are people out there who still know that I can stay up past 9pm, although, truth be told, I almost showed to party number two in my pjs.

I made them with brie and fig jam for the first party and brie with honey and rosemary for the second one. I suppose if you held a gun to my head and made me choose which version I preferred, I would have to choose the rosemary/honey combination but only just barely. I really love cheese and jam and i think the only thing that could have edged the cheese/fig jam to the front of the pack would be the addition of some heat. The next time I make these with jam I am going to use a spicy pepper jelly and then they will be perfect.

They are easy, adorable and impressive. They look like they take waaaay more work than they actually do and this is always a winning situation when you are taking an app to a party, right? You might want to pull a few strands of hair out of your do and dust your cheek with a bit of flour just to be safe.

The original version that I checked out came from Humming Bird High and she got the idea from Joy The Baker so I made both. I want to try another version with a bit of brie, a tiny piece of pear with the honey and rosemary next time - I would have done it this time but I forgot to get a pear. If you try them and use the pear, please let me know how it turned out because, if you go by my official stats, it will be about 19 months before I get invited to a party again and get another crack at these.

Rosemary Honey Brie Pops 

ingredients:

2 sheets of puff pastry that have been thawed but are still cold
1 egg beaten with a splash of milk
4 oz brie
fresh rosemary
your favourite honey
kosher salt (or any other coarse salt)
popsicle sticks ( I found small ones at Staples in the craft aisle)

Directions:

preheat the oven to 375F. Lay out one of your sheets of puff pastry (i worked with it right on the parchment it was wrapped up in). Keep the second roll of pastry in the fridge until you need it.Cut it in thirds one way and then into four strips the other so that you have 12 rectangles. Now, cut each rectangle in half so you now have 24 small rectangles - the photos on Joy The Baker's site illustrate it really well and you should go over there and bookmark her site anyway so, off you go, go look.Now, lay out 12 of the rectangles and brush each one with the egg wash and stick a little popsicle stick on to it, pressing lightly into the pastry. Now cut a little wedge of cheese and lay that on top of the bottom piece (make sure its small enough to allow you to have room around all four sides to stick the top on to it). Now dribble a bit of honey on the brie - maybe 1/4 tsp and then top that with a leaf or two of rosemary. Top that with a piece of puff pastry and seal all four sides with the tines of a fork. Prick two rolls of holes on top and move to a parchment lined cookie sheet.Repeat with the second roll of pastry and when you have all 24 pastry puffs on the cookie sheet, brush them all with the egg wash, lay a little bit of rosemary on top of each one and sprinkle the whole thing with some coarse salt.Pop those in the oven and cook them for about 14 minutes, until they have puffed up and are starting to brown a bit. They are best right out of the oven but they are still really good at room temp.

Jammy Brie Pops

same as above but instead of honey and rosemary you just need some of your favourite jam. I used fig jam but I think they would be even better if you used a spicy pepper jelly or jam.

Follow the instructions above but replace the honey and rosemary with just a little dollop of jam over the brie and omit the rosemary on top of the pastry before you bake them.