Last week, a rep from Domino® Sugar offered me a $20 Visa gift card to buy baking supplies in return for making something from the Domino® website. So, I figured I’d go there and choose from a list of cookies and cakes and other baked goods, but their recipe index is actually pretty impressive. A Winter Green Salad with Pear and Apple Cider Vinaigrette. A Double Café Diable with coffee, rum extract, cloves, orange zest and a cinnamon stick. And this Brie with Brown Sugar, Bourbon and Pecans.

Not bad, Domino®.

Around here, the holiday appetizer of choice is a plate of Holy, Sacred, Praise-the-Lord-and-Pass-the-Bisquick Sausage Balls. Which I love. But it pays to have a few meatless appetizers at your get-togethers. That’s why I chose this Brie en croute, an appetizer comprised of soft Brie cheese swaddled in a sheet of puff pastry and baked until the pastry is golden brown and the cheese inside is like molten cheese lava (arguably the best type of lava, with the possible exception of chocolate).

Once you’ve let the frozen puff pastry sheet thaw for 45 minutes, the hands-on prep takes about five. Roll or pat out the seams, spread the brown sugar-pecan mixture in a circle on the pastry, and land the Brie on top of the circle. Then, wrap the pastry sheet around the Brie, place it on a baking sheet (folded-side down), and bake it for about 25 minutes.

When the Brie emerges from the oven, the pastry will be a little crispy, the cheese will be gooey, and the brown sugar and pecans will add sweetness and crunch. Surround it with baguette slices, crackers and some pear and apple slices, and your friends will wonder when you got so swank, you sexy beast.

Brie with Brown Sugar and Pecans

Courtesy of Domino® Sugar

• 1/4 cup firmly packed Domino® Light Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon bourbon
• 1/2 package (17 1/4 ounces) frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
• 1 (13.2-ounce) round Brie

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Stir together light brown sugar, pecans and bourbon.

3. Place puff pastry sheet onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out fold lines. Spread pecan mixture in a 5-inch circle in the center of pastry. Place Brie on top of pecan mixture. Wrap pastry around Brie, pinching to seal tightly, and place on aluminum foil lined baking sheet, folded side down.

4. Bake for 25 minutes or until pastry is lightly brown. Cool 10 minutes on baking sheet. Serve warm with French baguette slices, crackers, and apple and pear slices.