Name: Baked brie with peaches, pecans, herbs and honey
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 1 wheel of brie; 1 can California cling peaches (chopped into cubes); 1/4 cup pecans (crushed); 5 fresh thyme/ tarragon branches; 3 basil leaves, or 3 sage leaves, sliced finely; Honey; Baguette or crackers of your choice (for serving)

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Peaches, chopped pecans, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of herbs. Now you've got everyone drooling over gooey baked brie with peaches!

Baked brie with peaches, pecans, herbs and honey

A food blogger's life

"I don't have anything to eat, but I'm sure we can scrounge something up." I began, giving my friends an apologetic smile as we hopped on the metro.

Now, if you're friends with a food blogger, you know that's probably a lie. If you're friends with me, you can bet it's a lie. A lie learned on my grandmother's knee. A lie honed over years of entertaining and making up meals from scratch.

I may have no fresh vegetables, or no bread, and none of the traditional fixings one needs for entertaining - chips, salsa, charcuterie meats.

But as long as you have a freezer, a pantry and several canned goods, you're good. You can always put together a quick entertaining dish like this baked brie with peaches, pecans, herbs and honey.

Making due with what you've got

In fact, this dish came about from just such an entertaining emergency. Danielle was on her way over to my place after a long day of studying. Kindly, I thought the occasion called for more than just a couple of shriveled logs of goat cheese and stale crackers.

So I threw together a simple salad of greens, pickles and pumpkin seeds. As I said, you are never too far from dinner if you have some pickles in your fridge!

I then rummaged around my freezer and pantry to make a more interesting main.

Full disclosure: I usually have a round of brie cheese in the freezer. I know, I know, this is weird. But sometimes, brie cheese goes on sale and you just don't want to eat it all at once. Then you assume that some day, guests may come and you'll have nothing to serve them, the store will just be out of brie cheese, and...

Whatever, I grew up in a Soviet household, give me a break.

Baked brie with peaches, nuts and herbs

Anyway, I took out a log of brie cheese from ~~the especially-crafted cheese drawer in my fridge~~ my freezer. I placed it gingerly at the bottom of a small ceramic dish. Note: you don't need a special brie-baking dish to bake brie; nearly any ceramic dish you like will do!

Then I rummaged around my pantry, and fished out a can of California cling peaches, which are my guilty pleasure on top of yogurt. Canned peaches also serve as a great saviour at emergencies just like this one. Or if you need to kill an intruder, cuz the can is heavy. Just sayin' - a girl living alone has gotta plan!

During winter, when fruit is expensive and has to be trucked all the way from Mexico, I much prefer the safety and comfort of frozen peaches, or in their absence, a good can of peaches to bruised and battered fresh fruit. Or if you're smart, you make yourself some peach jam and you're golden!

California cling peaches are grown and canned in the United States, on family farms that adhere to the highest agricultural and safety standards. With them, I can count on the freshest, most nutrient-packed peaches making it to my table at any given time.

A few chopped pecans, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of whatever fresh herbs you have on hand and you've got baked brie with peaches, pecans, herbs and honey.

The perfect entertaining dish

Now, this dish will forever be known as your perfect entertaining dish. Prepped in under 5 minutes, and ready in another 15-20 in the oven. With the smells of creamy melting baked brie with peaches wafting all over the place, your guests will salivate long before it's served.

When cooked, canned peaches maintain their shape and firmness better than fresh peaches. While your brie is getting good and melty the peaches break down only slightly into a beautiful, quickly made jam with a contrasting texture. The pecans provide additional crunch and contrast.

Altogether, this is a dish that will make your guests really distrust you the next time you say you don't have anything in the fridge... But that's a risk you take every time you make something from this blog.

Full disclosure: I received monetary compensation in exchange for this post. However, I am proud to only work with those companies and brands whose products I truly love. And as always, all opinions expressed here are my own; you can always expect me to be honest with you guys!

Recipe

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