Baked Brie en Croute

Looking for something easy to munch on while we waited for the doorbell to ring incessantly with Trick-R-Treaters last night, I brought home a small wheel of brie cheese and a bag of toastini slices. I wasn't too sure what I was going to do with them. But this is what I came up with and it was pretty darn good. And yeah, I could have gone to the trouble of buying a loaf of Italian bread and making my own toastini. I could have also made my own pastry dough for the brie. Hell, I could have probably made my own brie. But one can get too carried away with food snobbery and sometimes, the semi-homemade approach is just fine for the sake of convenience.


Ingredients
8 oz wheel of French Brie cheese
1 pkg 4-count Pillsbury croissant dinner rolls
1/2 9-oz. jar of Major Grey's chutney (like, Crosse & Blackwell - click here for more information)
1/4 lb bacon, fried crisp, drained and crumbled (or 1/2 of 3-oz package real bacon pieces like, Oscar Mayer - click here for more information)
2 oz sliced almonds
2 oz honey
Non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)

The Recipe
Let the cheese sit in its wrapper out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature for about an hour. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Lay out two of the triangles of croissant dough and pinch the two triangles together, then using your finger tips, press the dough into a thin rectangular sheet. Repeat with the other two triangles.

Remove the cheese from its wrapping, and slather the Major Grey's chutney on top of the wheel of cheese. Top with the bacon bits.

Lay the wheel of cheese on top of one of the rectangles of dough and wrap the excess dough upwards along the sides of the wheel of cheese. Carefully place the other rectangle of dough on top of the wheel of cheese, and wrap it downward. Press the two sheets together so that the wheel of cheese is fully wrapped in dough.

Spray non-stick cooking spray on a white or glass baking dish (do not use a black sheet pan, or the bottom will likely burn). Place the dough covered wheel of cheese in the baking dish and place the dish in the oven on a middle rack. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees.

After twenty minutes, the dough should be getting golden brown. Remove from the oven and drizzle the honey over the top of the wheel and sprinkle the almonds on top of the honey.

Return it to the over for another five minutes. Allow the cheese to cool for about five minutes before cutting into it. Is should be soft and slightly runny. Spread the cheese on toastini or bruschetta slices, or slices of crusty French or Italian bread.