Raspberry and Brie Pinwheels

Every cook has a line we won’t go past just for necessity’s sake. I won’t buy packaged cookie dough. Now you might LOVE the ease of packaged cookie dough but you’d NEVER buy precooked bacon. Even if you don’t consider yourself a “cook”, you are still a food consumer and with that comes a myriad of choices. This is what I always tell my students who say they don’t care about cooking. High school boys might not care about cooking, but they dang sure care about their bodies – as evidenced by the bizarre amount of time they’d spend looking in my demo mirror in the school kitchens. Learning about food goes hand in hand with caring about your body. Isn’t amazing how fast I can get off topic? Bear with me.

Yesterday I let Tessa chuck blocks around the library (trying to read her a book is a laughable exercise in frustration) while I perused Michael Pollan’s book, Food Rules. One of the rules was that we shouldn’t eat anything a third grader couldn’t pronounce, and I agree with this 95% of the time. Packaged crescent roll dough falls into my 5% exception area. It’s just so stinkin’ easy! Why make make homemade crescent roll dough when this is sold in every single grocery store? Even if the “real thing” is tastier, the ease is worth it for me. Just do me a favor and don’t read the ingredients list…Michael Pollan would not be happy.

When I found crescent rolls and brie in the fridge and I needed an appetizer ready within the hour, I knew I was in luck. Brie pairs well with sweet flavors, so jam was the answer! With just a few ingredients you’ve got a mind-numbingly easy, scarily addictive snack on your hands. Though I used it as an appetizer, it would work just as well for brunch. And truly, I feel like using brie is cheating. If there’s brie in it, it’s going to be good. A word on brie – you can eat the strange white stuff it’s wrapped in, but I don’t. I don’t like it, and I won’t eat it. I trim it off. Did the rumor go around your high school that you could eat the Trident gum with the wrapper still on it? Yes, I tried it many times. While you COULD chew the paper up into your gum, were we really that lazy? And weird?

Raspberry and Brie Pinwheels

Makes 12 

1 Package Seamless Dough Creations (by Pillsbury)

5-6 oz. Brie

1/4 c. Raspberry jam (or strawberry if you’d rather)

Kosher salt and Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Unroll the dough and press it with your fingers to form an 10 x 15 in (roughly) rectangle.

3.  Separate the brie into chunks and lightly spread it with a spatula so that it’s even across the dough (it’s okay if it’s not smooth).

4. Spread the jam across the dough.

5. Roll the dough from the short side (start with one short side and roll to the other), pulling tightly to keep the roll as tight as possible. Pinch the end and edges to seal and make the log as even as possible.

6. With a sharp serrated knife, cut the log in half, then cut each half again to make four chunks. Cut each chunk into three equal pieces.

7. Place spirals, cut side up, evenly across the baking sheet.

8. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (using about 1/4 tsp. total of each – if using kosher salt it might be more like 1/2 tsp.).

9. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

10. Let cool slightly and serve.