thanksgiving appetizer: baked brie with raspberries

Some folks think appetizers on Thanksgiving are for chumps.

They obviously haven’t tried this baked brie with raspberries.

Yes, it’s overkill. Starting the biggest meal of the year with creamy melted cheese and berries inside a flaky crust? You’ll be full before you even start.

But a Thanksgiving without gluttony is just plain un-American.

So let’s do it.

Grab a wheel of brie.

And a half cup of raspberries. I defrosted some frozen ones because it’s, you know, November.

Raspberry jam. Jelly would work too. Whatever you’ve got.

Fresh rosemary. There is nothing better.

Crescent roll dough. I was pleasantly surprised this year to find it available in one long sheet instead of perforated into those little triangles. Makes my life much easier.

Got all that? Good. Let’s roll.

Mash the raspberries up into a big bowl of red mush.

Add a heaping spoonful of raspberry jam.

Mix it all up and add a few turns of freshly ground pepper.

Grab a few sprigs of that gorgeous rosemary.

Chop ‘em up nice and fine.

Toss it in the bowl with the raspberry mixture…

…and stir it on up.

Now, it would be great if you could let this mixture sit in the fridge overnight. It would let the rosemary hang out with the berries a little longer and give ‘em some nice flavor infusion.

I don’t plan ahead, so I can never manage for it to happen. If you do, mad props.

Unwrap that wheel ‘o cheese.

Slice it in half. You should probably give it a taste at this point, just to make sure it’s not poisonous.

Spread the raspberry mixture on top of one of the brie halves.

Get a good layer of yumminess on there.

Gently place the other half of the brie on top. Don’t let it ooze out the sides too much.

Give cheese sandwich a whole new meaning, eh?

Now, pop that tube ‘o dough.

I love that sound. It’s the little things.

Unroll it, spread it out…

Cut in in half and stretch each half out a little bit.

Set the brie on top of one half of the dough and cover with the other.

Pinch the edges together. I always try to make it nice and pretty but it never works.

I compensate by making a little dough leaf on top. Maybe it will distract people from the edges that look like a 4-year-old’s Play Dough art project.

Bake at 375° for 20 minutes, or until the dough is all nice and golden.

Oh my. I LOVE this dish. The creaminess of the cheese combines nicely with the tartness of the berries, and it all comes wrapped in a buttery, flaky crust.

I usually serve it with pears and multigrain crackers, but a baguette would work nicely too.

Who needs turkey when you have melty, gooey cheese?

Seriously, people. We need to rethink this whole tradition.

This year, I will be serving nothing but melted cheese.

And it will be the best Thanksgiving ever.

Happy Turkey Week!

-RDG