Most of the baked brie recipes out there rely on ready-made puff pastry. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’d like to offer an alternative. Wine pastry. Yes, you read that correctly. There is actual wine in the dough. It comes together quickly in the food processor, rolls out beautifully, and results in a supremely flaky pastry. The wine adds acidity to the dough, which provides a perfect counterbalance to the rich brie.

I learned how to make this dough many years ago when I worked in catering at Dinah’s Kitchen in Toronto. One of our most popular party items was a huge wheel of brie, topped with brown sugar and mixed nuts, and then enrobed in wine pastry. Once baked, the melty brie with the sugared nuts was an addictive combo.

Since nobody is having huge parties this year, I updated it using a mini 4 inch wheel of brie. I used fig jam and pistachios to flavour mine.

You can wrap the brie, brush it with egg and put it in the fridge up one day ahead if you like. Once baked, you must let it rest for at least an hour, or you will have molten brie running everywhere. You want it soft and melty, but not running like hot lava.

I went full-out cheese board and I just love how it turned out with all the red fruits I surrounded the gorgeous brie with. I topped the pastry with fig wedges, chopped toasted pistachios and some pomegranate seeds. Don’t they look like little jewels?

Any leftover will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. Just reheat in a hot oven for a few minutes, until the pastry recrisps and the brie starts to melt.