Raspberry Brie Phyllo Cups

Remove brie rind for even melting. Don't overbake or phyllo burns and brie becomes rubbery. Fresh raspberries are essential - frozen become mushy.

This appetizer brings together two of the great culinary heritages of the Mediterranean world. Brie has been made in the region east of Paris since at least the 8th century — Charlemagne is said to have first tasted it at the monastery of Rueil en Brie in 774 AD and immediately arranged for regular deliveries to his court. In 1217, King Philip II Augustus of France gave 200 wheels of brie as New Year's gifts to his courtiers, and at the 1815 Congress of Vienna, delegates from across Europe famously declared Brie de Meaux "the king of cheeses" in an informal competition. The first wheels of brie reached American shores in 1936. The pairing of soft, mild cheese with the sharpness of fruit is as old as the cheese board itself, and a staple of French table traditions for centuries. Brie and fruit together became a fashionable American entertaining combination in the 1970s and 1980s, when French cuisine was popularised in American homes through cooking shows and a new generation of specialty food shops. Phyllo dough — the paper-thin pastry developed in the Byzantine era, refined in Ottoman palace kitchens, and now central to both Greek and Middle Eastern cuisines — arrived in American supermarkets in a pre-made cup format in the 1980s and 1990s, giving home hosts an elegant pastry shell without the skill or time required to make their own. These cups transformed brie-and-fruit from a cheese board moment into a two-bite appetizer.