Tasty Brie Fig and Bacon Bites

Published 9:20 am Thursday, July 17, 2014

3 slices thick-cut bacon

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

Non-stick oil spray

2 tablespoons flour

5 ounces Brie cheese, cut into 24 pieces (about 1/2-inch cubes)

4 tablespoons fig preserves

3 ripe, fresh figs for garnish (optional)

Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dust a large board with the flour and unfold the puff pastry onto the board. Use a rolling pin to roll out the pastry to an 11×13-inch rectangle. Cut the puff pastry into 24 approximately equal squares. Spray a mini-muffin tin with the non-stick spray.

Press the squares of puff pastry into the muffin tin cups. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the muffin tin from the oven and top each pastry with 1/2 teaspoon of fig preserves and 1 cube of Brie. Return the filled pastries to the oven for 5 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven and use a spoon to transfer the pastries to a serving platter. Cut each piece of bacon into 8 pieces and insert 1 piece of bacon vertically into the top of each pastry. Slice fresh figs into quarters and arrange on the platter as a garnish.

Makes 24 mini pastries.

Gigi Kerns, New Iberia

2011 Cajun Creole Cookbook