Baked Caramelized Onion Brie in Puff Pastry

For my Christmas dinner this year I decided to contribute by making an appetizer. Every year I get the same idea into my head that if I eat hardly anything throughout the day, I will be able to eat more of my Christmas dinner. Well the problem with this is that by the time our guests arrive, I am so starving that I am looking for anything around the house to munch on before dinner is ready, which often leads to me eating handfuls of dry cereal, very old Halloween candy (why is that still even in my house?), or just about anything else I can find. This is precisely the reason I decided to make an appetizer for Christmas dinner '09. I wanted to make something special, that everyone could enjoy to tide them over before the meal was ready. My Caramelized Onion Brie is Puff Pastry did just the trick! It was super fast and easy to prepare and tasted oh so good! I was really happy to hear that everyone loved it...including me...who kept going back for more throughout the night...and had more for breakfast.

Tip: Make the onions a day ahead to save on time. Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use.

Tip: To add extra flavour to your onions, add a splash of vinegar or wine towards the end of the cooking process to deglaze the pan. Those bits stuck to the pan are the best! Just be sure to cook off that extra moisture.

Tip: To make your brie really beautiful, cut shapes out of scraps of thawed puff pastry to add on top before baking.

Note: Yes I did slightly burn my brie, as you can see in the picture. The oven was being used to cook the turkey so I used my insanely hot toaster oven.

Ingredients:

1 sheet of thawed puff pastry

1 wheel of brie, about 8 inches in diameter

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp butter

1 1/2 onions, chopped or sliced

1 egg, beaten (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil and butter in a medium skillet over medium low heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until darkened. Reduce heat if burning. You want the onions to cook slowly. This should take about 30-40 minutes.

2. Lay out the thawed puff pastry on your work surface and flour lightly. Using a rolling pin, stretch out the pastry so that it is large enough to fully wrap the wheel of brie.

3. Using a large knife, cut the wheel of brie in half, lengthwise. Spoon the cooked onions onto one of the exposed (not the white rind) halves of brie. Place the other half on top. The onions should be in the middle of the two exposed halves.

4. Wrap the brie wheel in the puff pastry, lightly pressing the edges together. Place the wrapped brie on a baking sheet, seam side down. You may brush your pastry with the beaten egg at this point for a shiny finish.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned in a 350º oven. Serve hot out of the oven with fresh bread and crackers.