Dani Bartz, a PhD candidate in the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa shared her Holiday Baked Brie Bread Bowl recipe.
“I love it because you can throw it together for under $20 in 20 minutes and it is a hit at any holiday gathering,” Bartz said. “It’s warm, comforting, and oozing with cheese.”
She also suggests “jazzing it up” with some dried cranberries and rosemary sprigs on top, and baked, extra crispy prosciutto for dipping.
(Editors note: Earlier this year, Bartz earned the first place award for Best Early Career Researcher Talk at the 2nd Australian and New Zealand Environmental DNA Conference, for her presentation, “Testing the Waters: An Interdisciplinary Assessment of Current and Historical Shark Nursery Habitat in Hilo Bay, Hawaiʻi.” )
Holiday Baked Brie Bread Bowl
Ingredients:
- 1 round loaf of bread (I suggest the cranberry walnut loaf that Costco usually carries around the holidays)
- 1 full size wheel of Brie (I also get this at Costco)
- Optional toppings and additions: fresh rosemary sprigs, dried cranberries, prosciutto, or whatever you can think of!
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Place the cardboard lid from the Brie wheel on top of the bread loaf in the center and carve a circle around it with a knife.
- Pull out all the bread inside that circle, leaving only a thin layer of bread crust on the bottom.
- Rip up the pulled-out bread into bite size chunks.
- Place the loaf on a baking sheet and arrange the bread chunks around it on the sides.
- Open up the Brie wheel and slice the top waxy layer off with a knife.
- Set the entire Brie wheel inside of the circular hole you made in the bread, with the exposed side of the cheese facing up.
- Drizzle the whole tray with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.
- Optional: Before baking, top the cheese with fresh rosemary sprigs and dried cranberries for a holiday aesthetic. You can also scatter slices of prosciutto around the bread chunks on the pan, which will bake into crispy chips for dipping. Enjoy!
