Your Baked Brie Gets 10x The Flavor When You Add These Toppings

You could do nothing more than pop a wheel of brie into the oven, and the warm, creamy, cow's milk cheese would still make for an incredibly satisfying bite. Piercing its lightly powdery, bloomed, edible rind with a cracker or baguette medallion to reach the melting, buttery dairy inside is, in fact, an elite snacking experience all on its own. But add the kingly combination of fruit and nuts, and that brie practically seizes its rightful crown.

Brie is a relatively mild cheese, but its flavor notes are unmistakable. Even as batches may vary, it often reads as a little bit sweet and subtly earthy; qualities that can be further amplified with just the right accoutrements. Its texture might be its most pronounced characteristic, with a fairly silken consistency that complements all manner of textures, including that of, say, a plump, juicy cherry, or the crunch of an almond. Our recipe for hazelnut and fig baked brie, for example, adds the extras at the very end for an even more polished, dynamic finish than you'd get with the (already pretty great!) brie alone. And you can mix and match as many fruit and nut varieties as you can find.

If you want to simply toss chopped apples, cranberries, and walnuts atop your baked brie, you'll create a rustic, autumnal little plate any time of year. But a binder will help hold everything in place. The honey that lasts practically forever in your pantry is a pretty common go-to, but you can also think outside the squeeze-bear. Jam, as in our baked brie recipe, also works to hold everything loosely, but effectively, together. In an apple, cranberry, and walnut configuration, you can swap either of those two first fresh ingredients for their compote or sauce form, or add one or the other to bolster the fruit component.

Pistachios and strawberries would be delightful for a summery vibe. You can simply crush and slice those, too, respectively, with a few swirls of honey to tie it all together. But macerated strawberries – which are lightly soaked in sugar and lemon juice — come replete with their own sort of sauce that's ideal for this very purpose. Brie is also an excellent canvas for any leftover ingredients that you're trying to use up, like, perhaps, the peaches and pecans from your last baking project. If you can dream it, you can brie it. And in the event something doesn't work, you can always just scrape it off thanks to the cheese's sturdy casing: yet one more point for team mold in a world of brie rind removers.