Bake a brie for 15 minutes and you’ll transform a good value brie into a spectacular brie. It’s like the best fondue you will ever have. Ever. And you’ll be as obsessed with Baked Brie as I am.
“When you cut through the rind, the inside comes pouring out like lava. It’s like the best fondue you will ever have.”
There are some seriously dressed up baked bries around on the internet. Dripping with blueberry compote, piled high with nuts and dried fruit, wrapped in prosciutto and pastry. But even just baked plain, it is stellar. Because baked brie is, quite simply, the best melted cheese in the world. When you cut through the rind and the inside comes pouring out like lava, you’ll forget all your troubles. It’s like cheese-aholic heaven.
This is made with just maple syrup and thyme, and a pinch of salt. The woody sweetness from the maple syrup gives this a perfect sweet/savoury balance which is reminiscent of dried fruits and fruit pastes you often get on cheese boards. And I love the earthy freshness that thyme brings to this. Most of it ends up around the base when it comes out of the oven, but it mixes in with the gooey cheese when you scoop it up with bread.
I first made this because I have a theory that cheese is like wine – you get what you pay for. And if your budget extends to $90/kg ($45/lb) for a great French triple cream brie, I want to be you! So for ordinary people like me who reserve French brie for (very) special occasions, this is a way to get gourmet flavour using a good value brie.
“This is how you transform a good value brie into an amazing brie.”
There is nothing difficult about making this other than making sure you don’t over bake it. A 250g/8 oz wheel takes 15 minutes at 190C/375F (fan forced oven) to be perfectly gooey and melted on the inside. Any longer than 25 minutes and the inside will start to firm up again. As I found out the hard way! To check if it’s ready, just lightly touch the centre of the brie and you’ll easily be able to tell whether it’s melted because it will feel like it’s about to collapse if you prod it any harder.
This can be served with crackers or plain bread, but garlic crostini is my favourite. Lightly toasted sourdough bread, drizzled with olive oil then rubbed with garlic. Dunk that into the baked brie and transport yourself to Cheese Heaven!
Make this once, then come join me at Cheese-aholics Anonymous! – Nagi
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Baked Brie with Maple Syrup and Thyme
Ingredients
- 8 oz / 250g brie (good value is fine)
- 3 tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
- 3 sprigs of thyme , leaves only
- Pinch of salt
Garlic Crostini
- 1/2 sourdough french stick , sliced
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove , cut in half (not necessary to peel)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190C/375F.
- Place brie in a small ovenproof dish.
- Drizzle over maple syrup and sprinkle with thyme leaves. Sprinkle with salt.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until melted through. To check, gently touch the centre of the brie - it should feel very soft, like it is about to collapse if you press any harder.
- Serve immediately with crostini.
Garlic Crostini
- Place bread slices on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil.
- Bake in the oven on the oven tray under the brie until lightly toasted (around 10 minutes).
- Remove from oven and rub each slice lightly with the cut side of the garlic.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This looks yummy! I want to serve it at a fancy party. How can I transfer the Brie AND the warm, syrupy maple syrup?
Hi Carla! To take it to a party, I would pop the brie in a ovenproof dish and take the syrup separately. Then ask the host/ess to borrow the oven briefly OR you could even microwave it, it only takes a few minutes!
Hello Nagi, I am from Romania and I follow you with so much pleasure.
I love brie and I love maple syrup.
Thank you.
I’m so glad you like the look of this Alina! Thank you for reading all the way from Romania 🙂 N x
What a great recipe Deborah! Can’t wait to try it at our Christmas dinner party next weekend. It is sure to be a big hit!
Hi Nag, thank you so much!! It’s a super easy appetizer to pull together and it’s always a hit! I hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas!
YAY YAY!! I’m SOOOOO GLAD!!!
I came to your website from Pinterest looking for a good stir fry sauce.
Having two diabetics in the family I can’t buy the store bought jars as they have waaaaay too much sugar.
I found your Real Purpose Stir Fry Sauce.
Which was amazing.
And then I went through all your recipes… and found this one.
OMG so tasty.
Saw the image and went out and bought Brie the next day.
Everyone loved it, we just cut down on the maple a little.
Next recipe will the the gluten free brownies for my partner.
Thanks for this.
Hi Megan! I’m so glad you enjoyed this!! I love love LOVE baked brie. And you know, it’s great even without maple syrup!!
Is your partner gluten free? I keep meaning to properly update my Gluten Free recipe index, I have loads, I just keep forgetting to tag them.
SO GLAD everyone enjoyed the stir fry sauce! Thank you so much for coming back to let me know you enjoyed it! 🙂 N x
Oh, this looks and sounds so good, sooo good! What a fantastically delicious idea!
Thanks Nicole!! Simple and delicious….my favourite combination! 🙂
Brie is one of my all-time favorite cheeses! Warm, subtle, oozy-gooey, LOVE IT! The sweet and savory component is so wonderful in this dish! And the thyme is THE perfect herb to pair! Another incredible dish, Nagi!
Thanks Kathleen!! Isn’t melted brie just the BEST??!!
this looks so tasty. i usually add some chopped walnuts or pecans too. so delish.
Hi Sherry! I love adding nuts to this too, I just didn’t have any on hand! 🙂 Chopped walnuts and pecans are a great addition. I must update the recipe to suggest that 🙂 Thank you!
Another wonderful recipe Nagi…..I’m so glad I found your site being an Aussie it’s great to get Aussie recipes!!!! Can you please tell me if your oven is normal……..or like mine fan forced, as this would make a difference to the cooking time.
Thanks xx. P.S. If I came to Sydney would you cook for me???????xxx
Thanks Pauline! It is so nice to hear from a fellow Aussie! Most of my readers are from America 🙂 My oven is fan forced. To be honest, for a recipe like this ordinary vs fan forced won’t make a huge difference because the cheese is enclosed in the rind so the inside actually heats up very quickly, except unlike ordinary cheese you don’t need to worry about it browning because it’s enclosed. With a fan forced I have taken it out at 12 minutes and it was fine, but usually I just leave it for 15 minutes to be safe. Baked brie is pretty forgiving – anywhere between about 12 to 20 minutes, fan forced or not, and it will work just fine! 🙂
Another visitor from Maureen’s, a blogless ‘cuckoo in the nest’ this time:) ! Sometimes it is very hard being both a doctor/nutritionist and a foodie 🙂 ! Happen to love brie and have baked it [sshhh!!] but not with maple syrup and thyme: I think I can taste it now!! Just have to try for Christmas . . .
Lovely hearing from a fellow Maureen fan! Baked brie is a classic and yes, Christmas is a good time to blow your calorie budget on this!! Thank you for visiting 🙂
I love brie any way I can have it – This looks so delicious and utterly addictive- a must make for the holidays.Luck me, I just picked one up for 4 bucks!!
Thanks Imma! The one I used was around $5 – and look how it turns out after baking it!! I love love love this!
Am so glad Maureen introduced us to you. You have a fabulous blog space. Happy to be here 🙂
Thank you!! Popping over to say hi to you on your site! 🙂
I’ve had (and made)! this dish, but it’s been ages. It’s really a good one, and you did it so well. Thanks so much.
Thanks for your kind words John!!
Oh, yes please Nagi – I have been thinking of doing a baked camembert for a while – thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks Rachel!! I’m like you – sometimes I just need to see a recipe to remind me how much I love it!!
Amazing photo, AGAIN!
You know what, your version looks super fancy for me! It reminds me my very first experience with brie. It was when I lived in Japan and the first time I had a “real cheese” (other than processed slice cheese). I think it’s quite smelly (not sure what I was thinking) so I toasted the brie on a slice of bread on stove top. It was THE BEST THING EVER. Now I’m eating cold brie with homemade bread almost every day, but I kept forgetting heating them up. Thanks for this nice reminder and you know what’s on my dinner table tonight! 🙂
Thanks so much for your kind message Maggi!! I’m so surprised that your first experience with real brie was in japan! Japan certainly isn’t known for their cheeses 🙂 Grilled brie on bread….YUM!!
Dear Nagi,
This is a fab idea.
I have always liked a meat fondue when I was a kid. This might just be a highlight for our next dinner party but I need to first find a small cast iron pan like yours.
Thank you so much! You know, I have never tried a meat fondue, it is definitely on my list of things to try 🙂 You don’t need a cast iron pan to make this, you can make it using any small oven proof dish. I also recently even found out that there is such a thing as brie baking dishes!!
I’ve poured toffee and sprinkled roasted cashews over baked brie before but this sounds wonderful. Your photos make resistance futile. I must have this.
I’ll have to pop over and check out your takes on brie! I love the idea of cashews on it – nuts are a great addition to add texture!
Looks so delicious and very “cheesy” 🙂 I love this baked brie and will definitely try it! What a coincidence I’m making a different kind of brie appetizer for Thanksgiving tomorrow, if it turned out ok, I’ll share the recipe! Pinning these beautiful pictures 🙂
Oh cool Mira! Looking forward to seeing how you do brie!! 🙂
Oh my, that looks fabulous! I love the buttery, sweet and herbal combination!
Thanks Marissa! You know, even without any extra flavourings at all, baked brie is still AMAZING!