I love a dish that is simple to make, but looks fancy and tastes amazing!  This is a perfect addition to your holiday table, and it tastes amazing!

If you are in need of a quick appetizer to bring to your next gathering, this baked brie dish couldn’t be more simple to make!

All you need is brie, honey, berries, and candied nuts!  Serve it with some fresh baguette bread slices or crackers, and you are all set.  Fancy in no time!

Read more for the full recipe.

{Baked Brie with honey, candied nuts, and berries}

Ingredients

Brie
Honey
Berries (I used Blueberries and Raspberries)
Candied nuts* see method below (I chose pecans, but you could easily do almonds, walnuts, or even hazelnuts)

Candied nuts
Nuts of choice
Sugar

Depending on how much you need, I like to use the ratio of every 2 cups of nuts, use 1/2 a cup of sugar.

Over medium to medium high heat in a large non-stick skillet (10″ to 12″), add nuts and sugar. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the sugar starts to melt. Lower the heat and cook until the sugar turns a golden brown and no lumps of undissolved sugar remains. (once the sugar begins to melt, the nuts can burn really fast, so if that is the case, you can even remove them from the heat a little and stir until the nuts are well coated) Pour out the nuts  onto a well-greased or parchment covered cookie sheet. (I use my Silpat.) Let cool completely.  Break apart.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

With a serrated knife, scraped most of the white rind from the brie.

Place Brie on an oven safe pan and bake for about 10-12 minutes.  (watching closely so the brie doesn’t start to melt too much, it should just get warm and soft)

Remove from oven and place on your serving platter.  Place berries and nuts on top, and drizzle with honey.

Serve with fresh baguette bread, or crackers.

Enjoy!

The French baguette has such a rich history.  It is probably one of the most famous bakery items to come out of France.  They are known for their beautiful crunchy, flaky crusts, with a soft chewy center.

The term “baguette” was not always used for bread.  The French used this word back in the day to describe objects that were long and skinny, but as the years went by, this word became linked to the long skinny loaves of bread made in France.

If you have been to France, you know that there really isn’t anything quite like the bread there.  It doesn’t seem like it could possibly be duplicated.  Some will say the secret is in the flour in France, some will say the water, some will say it is the steam ovens that create the perfect outer crust, and some will say it is years of practicing the perfect baguette making technique.  But, I gotta say, I haven’t had bread anything near as good as the bread in France, so one of the above is perhaps the secret.

I recently experimented with a few different baguette recipes, and I found several.  Some that take only a few hours, some that take overnight, and some that can take up to several days.  There are so many ways to make a baguette.

I discovered in my experiments, that I preferred recipes that started with a “dough sponge” the fermentation period really helped develop the flavor.  I also think cooking the baguettes at a very high temperature allowed the outer crust to form and kept the inside nice and soft.

Here are a few recipes I would recommend:

King Arthur Flour Baguettes (but, cooked at 500 degrees for about 12 minutes or until crunchy)
Food Plus Words Perfect Baguette (recommended if you are short on time)
Martha Stewart French Dough with the Baguette Instructions

Good Luck!

(photo by me)