Melted Brie with Jam

 

 

This simple, yet elegant snack, is inspired by Whole Foods, who has promoted this for years around the Christmas holidays.  This one is just a bit different though because I use jam that is fruit juice sweetened, rather than sweetened with sugar (or worse HFCS, high fructose corn syrup).  We also eat it year round; it is a great and easy appetizer to serve visitors. 

Make sure your crackers do not contain enriched flour - there are not many available but you can find them if you look around.  The Whole Foods crackers shown use white flour, but are not enriched, and the Mary's Gone Crackers are organic and 100 % whole grain.  It seems people either love or hate the Mary's Gone Crackers (no connection to me!).  I buy the brie cheese wheel and Mary's Gone Crackers at Costco, and the water crackers at Whole Foods.  Be careful with Carr's water crackers - read the labels.  Some varieties contain enriched white flour, which is on my never to eat list of foods and ingredients.  Find a good quality cracker.

 

Ingredients:

 

One round of brie cheese

Fruit juice sweetened jam (I use Crofter's Just Fruit Raspberry Spread)

Crackers (read the ingredient label)

 

Preheat oven to 350 °F.  Cut the top layer off of the cheese wheel (but do not cut off the side layer or your brie will be a melted puddle) and place on an oven-proof dish or plate.  Spread the jam over the top (about 1/4" thick) and place in preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is soft.  Remove and serve with crackers.