Black Raspberry and Brie Puff Pastry

1 box frozen puff pastry
1 jar of jam of your choice
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 – 15 oz brie cheese wheel

The puff pastry needs to spend the night in the refrigerator the day before you use it.  Don’t defrost on the counter or in the microwave or it will end up gooey and stick together.

For this recipe I used brie, but you can really use whatever you want. If you use brie, you’ll need to carefully trim the rind off the end and sides. I use a combination of a pairing knife and a peeler. I’m sure there are other, more efficient ways to do it, but that’s what works for me 🙂

Set the Dome up for indirect heat using the Grill Dome Indirect Cooking Rack and Ceramic Stone.  Next, install the Main Cooking Rack and place a 2nd Ceramic Stone either directly on the Main Cooking Rack or on the Extender Rack.  When baking on the Dome, I prefer to use the Extender Rack to elevate the food closer to the ceramic walls and farther away from the heat source.  Preheat and stabilize the Dome to 400°.

You’ll want to prepare this dish on a piece parchment paper which will then be placed on the Ceramic Stone for baking. Don’t use wax paper or foil. The wax paper melts and the foil gets stuck to the bottom of the food in little tiny shreds.

On a clean countertop or large cutting board, open up and lay one sheet of puff pastry off to the side where you can access it (we’re going to be attaching strips to it, but you need the cutting board for the strip making). Then, take the second sheet of puff pastry and cut along the 3 fold lines to make 3 strips.  Line a strip up with one of the sides of the intact sheet, with the edges overlapping a bit.  Pinch them together to make a cheese-proof seam. You don’t want this to leak as it will be a huge mess and a sloppy presentation 🙂

Take a second strip and do the same along a new seam on the intact sheet that is perpendicular to the first.  You should have made the square larger, rather than making a super rectangle. Repeat with the third strip and a new side. (All of this may seem a bit involved…but check out the video below for the step by step…)

Put the cheese in the approximate middle of the puff pastry, with the wedges pointing opposite directions so it is more like a square/rectangle of cheese rather than a pie shaped wedge. Spoon on the jam, being sure to coat the cheese evenly, so there are no sections without cheese.

Now for the fun part:  pick up two sides of the pastry, and pinch the seam together.  Repeat for each of the sides.  Then, fold/lay the dough over top of the cheese; it is going to want to sink back down naturally, and pinch together the top.  Be sure your seams are tight.

Brush the heavy cream over the top (this helps provide the a nice, light golden brown, crisply finish).  Depending on the size of your pastry, bake for 20-40 minutes on the Ceramic Stone.  One the top has a nice golden brown, flaky surface, it’s done.  Remove from the Dome and let rest for about 5 minutes.  Serve with crackers.  Enjoy!