Date and Brie Puff Pastries

These small appetizers are perfect for large or small gatherings.

Let me preface this by saying this is rather a lame post, particularly compared to Philip’s Le Creuset-made pea and ham soup, with tons of photos and a knife-skills tutorial. Yikes! He must have found his cooking muse.

These appetizers are both sweet and savory, thanks to the dates and brie. Not only that, they’re super-good and a snap to make. In a way, they’re similar to this delicious monstrosity, but have a different taste.

What you’ll need:

• A half-date for every pastry you’re going to make (Majool dates, if possible because they’re sweeter)
• A couple ounces of brie (or any other soft double- or triple cream cheese)
• Frozen puff-pastry dough (yes, I was really lazy about making these)
• 1 egg, firmly beaten

Yum!

What to do:

1. Roll out the puff pastry dough and use a glass or stamp to make 3-inch rounds.
2. When you have them all stamped out, cut your dates in half, ½ for each pastry (make sure you remove the pits if they’re not already pitted) and place just off-center in the round.
3. Cut a piece or slice of Brie and add it on top of the date.
4. When ready, moisten the inside edge of the dough with water and fold over to make a half-circle.
5. Use a fork or something similar to seal the edges.
6. Brush some beaten egg on each pastry.
7. Put on baking pan covered with parchment paper and bake a couple of minutes longer than the puff-pastry directions. The ones pictured here were baked at 425 degrees for about 13 minutes.
8. Make sure to keep an eye on them for the tops getting too brown.
9. When done, serve hot.