Vanilla Fig Bourbon Brie Recipe
For the holidays, serve this Vanilla Fig Bourbon Brie Recipe on a charcuterie board, or bring to a party with your favorite crackers and fruit.
Do you ever invite people into your home for dinner because you’re curious about their lives? Here’s the perfect appetizer to serve, Vanilla Fig Bourbon Brie Recipe.
Vanilla Fig Bourbon Brie Recipe
The flavors are delicious and sure to make your guests happy, as you dive into getting to know your guests. [Also serve Marmalade Pistachio Brie Mini Tartlets.]
Best Baked Brie Recipe
This brie is simple to make and so flavorful, with cardamom, pistachios, and orange! The basic vanilla, fig, bourbon, and caramel flavors are perfect by their lonesome, but we included various ingredients that can be added or subtracted according to your personal taste.
This quote says it all.
“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.” –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
We love to dine with wise people. Now don’t get me wrong, we don’t get to choose every dining experience, or those sitting with us. Nor is every dinner party a huge success when it comes to conversation. Just being real here, so keep reading!
What is brie?
But first, what is brie?
Brie is a soft cow’s-milk cheese named after the French region of Brie. It’s a creamy white color with a slight grayish tinge, under a rind of white mold. The rind is often eaten, with its flavor depending largely upon the ingredients used and how it’s made.
How to eat Brie
- Serve on a charcuterie board
- Eat it by the slice
- Set out with bread and toppings
- Bake the Brie, like I did in these recipes. [Cranberry Pistachio Brie Appetizer and Baked Marmalade Brie with Spicy Pecans.] You can also try Baked Brie with Jam and Nuts.
Listen and learn
On our recent river cruise in Europe, we sat with our friends and a lovely couple from Massachusetts. We had gone on a few tours with them before, and we really loved this couple (both attorneys, really smart, and witty!). This time when we sat down, one of our friends said, this dinner we will listen and learn.
I love that. We will listen and learn. True. In other words, he was saying, don’t plan to talk about yourselves, because it’s never going to happen.
My husband and I and the other couple we were traveling with are very good with conversation, digging into other people’s lives and learning about them. It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle politically or spiritually, it’s good to be curious about others and just learn.
I think we live in a society now where we want everyone to be like us, think like us, and look like us.
No, this is not how we are to live. So self-absorbent that we can’t even listen and learn about the person sitting across the table from us.
The take away
Here’s the take away. This other lovely couple, in the whole time mingling with them over meals and excursions for one week, never asked a single question about our lives, what we do (my husband is an advocate against child bullying, which is not only interesting but meaningful), and that is okay.
We were the bigger people. The last meal, sitting down together, our friend whispered to us … we will listen and learn.
This is what connection is all about.
It’s not about us, it’s all about them.
We did learn from this elderly couple, as we peppered them with questions, got them to laugh (the first big smile and laugh we saw on the gentleman in one week), and we became the “older,” wiser couples in this situation.
How to make Brie
- Prepare the vanilla, fig, bourbon sauce (reduction).
- Pour over the Brie and bake.
- Top with pomegranate arils and toasted pistachios.
- Serve with crackers, cured meats, additional nuts, grapes, and other favorite appetizer toppings.
Now, I want to encourage YOU to invite someone new to dinner or for appetizers this holiday season.
I hope my story encourages you to listen and learn, and you become the wiser of the group.
I promise you will learn something, if your heart is open!
Happy weekend!
Get the Recipe:
Vanilla Bourbon Fig Brie
Ingredients
- 1/8 cup light brown sugar
- 1/8 cup white sugar
- 1/8 cup bourbon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cardamom pods, optional or 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp orange zest, optional
- 1 1/2 tsp orange juice, optional
- 1/2 cup dried black mission or calamari figs, roughly chopped
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 tsp molasses
- 2 Tbsp warm water
- 13 oz brie round
- Olives
- Pomegranate arils to garnish
- 1/4 cup toasted pecan halves or pistachios, roughly chopped
- Crackers, salami, and fruit
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and place the brie on a stone or baking sheet.
- In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, white sugar, molasses, bourbon, vanilla, orange juice and zest, cardamom pods, nutmeg, water, and figs. Simmer on low heat until sauce is thickened and reduced—12-14 minutes. Make sure to not turn it into a thick caramel consistency. Remove cardamom pods when sauce is reduced. Don't over-simmer.
- On a small, rimmed oven-safe stone, place Brie in the center and spread reduction on top. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until Brie has reach desired texture, temperature, and softness.
- When Brie is softened, remove from oven, and top with pomegranate arils and toasted pistachios.
- Serve with crackers, cured meats, additional nuts, grapes, and other favorite appetizer toppings.
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
Listen and learn! I love this!