Baked brie with sorrel jam
Jump to RecipeGrowing up in Dominica sorrel was one of the leading traditional signals that Christmas was around the corner. It’s the flavorful drink that sets the tone for a festive holiday celebration. This drink originates from a flower known as roselle or rosella. This crimson flower from the hibiscus family always gets the royal treatment as it’s transformed into the most delicious drink.
How is Roselle used?
Roselle isn’t only indigenous to Dominica or the Caribbean, but it’s also enjoyed around the world. It flavors drinks and sauces in Mexico, India, South East Asia, Central America, West Africa, China, Egypt, Israel, and other regions in the Middle East. Roselle is used fresh in salads, especially fruit salads, cooked with vegetables, sauces, stews, pies or tarts, and dried and used as a natural coloring.
In Dominica and other parts of the Caribbean, sorrel drink usually gets spiced with ginger, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sometimes even rum. The petals are boiled or soaked in spiced water overnight. It’s then sweetened or sometimes even left unsweetened and served chilled.
On my recent visit to Israel, I was pleasantly surprised to see the sorrel petal’s candied version. It was infused and cured with sugar and tasted like candied cranberry. After tasting this delicious treat, I wanted to experiment with it. I ventured out to make jam and opted to leave the petals chunky since I enjoyed the textured taste.
Substituting cranberry jam for roselle (affectionately referred to sorrel)
I used this jam as a substitute for cranberry in my baked brie with sorrel jam dish. It was absolutely delicious and tasted even better than the cranberry option I’ve use on brie over the years. I hope that you will try it during the holiday season.
Here’s my recipe for baked brie with sorrel jam. It was really tasty and a great addition to my charcuterie board. You can add more to your board to to personalize it. A few weeks ago I created a board and added tiny accra on skewers to it. Here’s the recipe for titiwi accra.
Baked brie with sorrel jam
Ingredients
Sorrell jam
- 1 cup dried sorrel you can also use the leftover sorrel pulp used after making sorrel drink
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 cup cinnamon
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 piece orange rind zest
- water you'll need enough water to boil the sorrel till it's tender.
Baked brie
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, thawed
- i wheel (2 pound size) Brie cheese, rind intact
- sorrel jam
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
Sorrel jam instructions
- Combine sugar, sorrel, lemon zest, water in a medium sized pot.
- Bring to a boil as petal becomes soft
- Reduce heat, and cook until thickened.
- Let it rest before using on brie
Baked brie instructions
- You can slice the brie in half to create a sandwich-like effect. Or you can leave the brie wheel intact and just trim the top rind of the wheel.
- Add a generous portion of jam to the top of the wheel, or one side of the sandwich
- Roll dough out with a rolling pin on a floured surface
- Trim excess dough. You can also use it to decorate .
- Wrap the pastry up around the sides and over the top of cheese wheel, wrapping completely and pressing the edges of dough together to form a tightly sealed package.
- Carefully flip the dough-wrapped cheese over, so that the gathered dough is on the bottom.Place the package, seam side down, on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- The brie can be prepared up to this point and refrigerated for 2 days before baking.
- Be sure to bring the brie to room temperature before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Combine the egg and water and brush the mixture over the top and sides of the pastry.
- Add design from leftover dough if you'd like, and brush with egg mixture
- Bake the brie for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve with crackers, toast or chips
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- You can use leftover sorrel pulp from your juice to make the jam. It will be a little less acidic and the color will be a brighter red instead of darker red.
- Make my jam a day ahead, so I don’t feel rushed and the jam will have time to settle.
- Add the jam to the center of the brie by slicing the brie in half and having the jam as a filler.
- Next time, I’ll use a larger pot, so that I don’t need to add water frequently to tenderize the sorrel.
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