Baked apricot brie wheel w/puff pastry

How was everyone's holidays?! Mine was so nice, I spent it with the hubby's family. I made Christmas dinner, I had a whole menu planned out and this was one of the apps I served. It was awesome, everyone loved it. Even the old Italians who are stuck in their ways enjoyed it. Joe's mom liked it so much she had me make it again for new years dinner.

So here it is, let me know if you use it and if you do any sort of your own variation.

Ingredients

• 1 (200g) wheel Brie cheese
• 3 tablespoons apricot preserves
• 1/2 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
2. Mix the egg yolk and water in a small cup; make sure it’s big enough to dip a pastry brush (silicone or otherwise) inside it. Set aside the egg wash.
3. Slice one wheel of Brie cheese in half (leave in freezer for half an hour for easier cutting) so you have 2 circles of cheese. Spread apricot on (the cut side) half of one circle of brie. Make sandwich out of the two halves of Brie, so that the preserves are in the center of both halves.
4. Wrap the entire wheel of Brie with one sheet of puffed pastry; using the egg wash to seal the folds, flip it over onto the prepared cooking sheet so the seam is on bottom. Brush the entire puff pastry with the egg wash.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the pastry in golden brown. Serve immediately.

Notes:

• You can use essentially anything you want in place of the jam. I’ve tried herb and garlic cream cheese, it was just as yummy.
• I don’t use all the pastry (the half package) I find it gets too heavy/thick on the bottom otherwise. So what I do (see photos) is I use the “leftover” pastry to make shapes that I place on top of the finished product. You follow all the steps, but after you brush the pastry with egg wash place the designs on top and then egg wash it all again for a nice seal.
• Make sure you unthaw the pastry covered overnight in the fridge. Having it sit in the open (fridge, counter etc.) air makes the outside layer of the pastry hard and crusty. It’s still good but it leaves odd looking chunks you can see, even once baked.
• Every oven’s different, be sure to keep an eye on this. I’ve had mishaps where the entire wheel of cheese leaked out onto the pan.