Brie and Fig Tarts

Tea and Treats by the fire will warm us up on this cold day. 

I must admit that I love Winter, at least since I moved to Texas 36 years ago; Summers, not so much!  Cozy sweaters, hot tea, soups, glowing candles, baking, and comfort foods are some of my favorite things.

The Cheesy Trees recipe is from Mary, at Home Is Where The Boat Is.  You can find Mary's recipe for her Christmas Tree Cheese Straws here.  The dough was so easy to work with and the cheesy trees are so tasty and make for nice gifts.  The Brie and Fig Tarts I recently shared at our big group luncheon and gift exchange party.  I made the Fig Preserves from my friend Joyce's figs that she shares with me.  It is so wonderful, but you can find excellent fig preserves in grocery stores.  The recipe for the Fig Preserves can be found here.

My daughter gave me this poinsettia teacup one year for Christmas.  The big poinsettia by my fireplace was a gift and it adds such beautiful color to my room.  My red teapot came from World Market one year and since red is my favorite color, it's a pleasure to use.  

These are the little tart shells that I used.  Not every grocery store has these, but when they do, they are found in the frozen food aisle, along with puff pastry.  They come 15 to a box, and they're so light, flaky, and versatile.

This was my platter of tarts that I took to the party and there weren't any left.

Yield: 15

Author: Kitty

Brie and Fig Tarts

These tarts are delightful mini appetizers for any time of the year.

Ingredients

• 1 Box of pre-baked phyllo shells (Mine were by Athens and have 15 in the box)
• About 4 ounces of brie cheese with the rind cut off, and cut into small chunks, about 1/2"
• Fig Jam or Preserves, or any jam of your choice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bake the unfilled shells for 3-5 minutes. (I'm not sure this is necessary but I wanted the shells to be crispy). Set aside while you cut up the cheese into chunks.
3. Place the brie into the shells and bake for 5 minutes or until melted.
4. Remove from the oven and top with a small amount of the fig preserves.
5. Serve immediately. Since I had to transport mine, I covered the tarts with foil and put them into my Pyrex carrier and placed a Pampered Chef stoneware cookie heart underneath that I had heated in my toaster oven.

Notes

I doubled this recipe to serve to a crowd.

If you can't find the shells, you could use one sheet of puff pastry, and fill the middle with the brie and fig preserves or jam, cut strips on both sides of the filling and braid it down the center by overlapping the strips. I plan to do this with my leftover brie and fig preserves.

 Thank you for your visit and Merry Christmas!  May God's Hope, Peace, Joy and Love live in you.  xo

I'm sharing with these parties:

Talking About It Tuesdays

Love Your Creativity Link Party

Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage