I’m sure I have said this before, but I’m not a sugar and sweets kind of girl.  That being said, every once in a while it just has to be done.  These little pockets are filled with fig and nutty sweetness and a hint of salt from brie melted in the middle.   I made these pockets with nuts, dried fruits, and minimal butter/sugar to add a little nutritional value.  You can swap out for different nuts, fruits, even spread to whatever you may have on hand.  I would love to make them again with apricot, honey, and walnuts!  The pockets can be made any size you would like; personally, I don’t like cutting into a big gooey wheel leaving the cheese to spill all over, so I made these mini (3 bites) size to avoid such troubles.

They turned out even better than I expected and were easy to prepare in the morning before guests arrived.  I made them up until the point of baking, then put them in the fridge until 30 minutes before I was ready to bake, serving immediately.  You could make them as far as a day in advance before baking, just be sure to keep in the fridge overnight.  This only makes 8 pockets, which was not enough for our group, you may want to double it!

Ingredients:

3 oz of double cream brie cheese
1 pre-made Pillsbury pie crust
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup of diced figs
1/4 cup of craisins
1/3 cup of chopped pecans
1 Tbsp butter
Fig spread/jam (I prefer with seeds)
1 egg
1 Tbsp large grain sugar

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan add chopped nuts, brown sugar, figs, craisins, and butter.  Stir well and cook on medium heat until butter is melted and figs/craisins are soft, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

2. Roll out the pie crusts to be slightly thinner than packaged and even, cut into 3×3 inch squares.

3. In the center of each square place a small piece of brie (rind intact), put a small spoon of fig spread on top of cheese, and a large spoon of the nut and fig mix on top.

4. I didn’t take a picture of this, but bring the four corners up over the cheese pile and press together. Seal the folds by pinching as able and put on baking sheet seam side up.  They don’t have to look perfect, it’s almost better that way.

5. Scramble the egg and brush on top of all of the brie pies, sprinkle with large grain sugar lightly.

6. Bake at 350 until golden brown on top, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!