What's NOT good about melted cheese and flaky dough?

I heard a tale of woe today. The puff pastry, well -- didn't.
Puff, that is.

And that got me thinking about one of the easiest and most "impressive" presentations you can make using this little puffy miracle - brie en croute. I recall rushing at the last minute for a murder mystery that Sara and I were hosting, and we needed something to inspire awe and amazement just in case my first-ever-attempt-with-no-practice-at-a-braciole didn't turn out well, and so I threw this thing together about 10 minutes before the guests arrived. Which ended up perfectly since they got to see the beauty come out of the oven with their wine already in hand!

Brie en croute

• 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
• 1 small wheel of brie
• 1/4 c chopped walnuts (or pistachios, pecans, whatever nut you like)
• 1/4 c brown sugar (or honey)
• egg wash (1 egg plus 1 tbsp water)

Preheat oven to 400F. Gently roll the pastry to remove lines and increase size 1-2 inches. Place the wheel of brie in middle of pastry. Top with walnuts. Top with sugar. Draw up corners of pastry to the middle of the topped brie and gently press to seal, using egg wash as glue if needed. Brush remaining egg wash over top to help with browning. Bake 20-30 minutes at 400F or until nicely browned. Rest 3-5 mins (or longer if firmer brie is desired). Cut and enjoy with crackers or bread!

Variations:

• You can toast, brown, saute or candy the nuts before you package them up. I prefer a quick brown in a little butter (this isn't a diet dish), but toasting is quicker if you're in a hurry.
• Honey works just as well as brown sugar - and you can pre-mix it with your nuts and any other flavorings (like fresh herbs maybe? Rosemary or mint?)
• You can fold up the pastry neatly, or kind of pull it all up and make it messy - either way turns out pretty after baking. And you can always trim the edges, and put the trimmings on top as decoration, using that egg wash again.

It's so good, looks so good, and is too easy not to add to your emergency list.

Oh, and the braciole did come out perfectly (wish I could remember what recipe that was!), the party was a huge success, and it didn't end until the baseball player fell asleep with flapper gloves on cuddled up with the liter of Jack he successfully befriended -- and then killed. You had to be there...

Good luck, Bon Appetit, Ita-daki-mas!