Gooey brie with a caramelized brown sugar walnut topping is a decadent and delicious appetizer that will disappear in moments.  That’s what happened when this appetizer appeared at my cousin Amy’s bachelorette dinner in Blue Mountain.  A member of her bridal party made a steering wheel-sized version of this and served it as an appetizer to the dozen girls there and in mere minutes, the behemoth brie was devoured.

When making my own version, I opted to use a significantly smaller wheel of goat brie which feeds about 2 to 4 as an appetizer (depending on how hungry everyone is).  Using a sharp knife, remove the rind from the top and sprinkle the brown sugar on top.  I’ve seen a brie baking kit that’s a mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar which sounds yum and I will try next time.  Add the walnuts and bake for 25 minutes and voila – easy yummy appetizer.

To go along with this decadent appetizer, I served a combination of store-bought and homemade rice crackers.  To make the rice crackers from scratch, I put some brown rice tortillas in the toaster oven heated to 300 degrees for about 5 to 10  minutes, until lightly browned, and break into large pieces.  Because they’re so crispy, you tend to get jagged edges which make it look more fancy schmancy and artisan-like.  You can even make flavoured crackers by brushing on a little flavoured olive oil or some oil and dried herbs – be creative.

I kind of over baked mine (honestly I ran out of timers and forgot about it) but it was still delicious.  So it’s basically idiot-proof which is my type of appetizer, especially if company’s coming.  I read an article in the Globe over the weekend saying that nuts on baked brie, along with cocktail shrimp rings and artichoke dip, are cliché.  The writer offered some great ideas for updates, but this version is super fast and is a unique twist on a tasty classic.