Brie Filled with Walnuts and Amaretto-Soaked Apricots in Brioche

I absolutely loved this filled brie recipe. I served it at a large party, and the most sophisticated foodies there raved about it. The balance of buttery brioche, creamy brie, salty nuts and sweet-tart apricots is delicious. This was not too sweet, like some versions I've encountered, and the brioche kept it fairly neat- it could be sliced into thin wedges for serving.

The Brie: I followed this part of the recipe exactly and was so glad that I did- it was perfect. I used a cake leveler to cut the cold brie, it worked like a charm. For the apricots, I used california (Sun Maid) rather than turkish, as they are more intensely flavored and more tart. They are halves, rather than whole apricots, so I used 20 halves for the recipe (called for 10 whole).

The Brioche: I only used 2/3 of this recipe to encase the brie, partly because I didn't have the tools to create the filigree top and partly because I didn't want that much bread around the cheese. I folded the dough into pleats to try and make it look as presentable as possible.

This brioche rises vigorously during chilling, I found it helpful to start the chilling when it reached 1.5 times its volume, instead of double. I also found it helpful, when rolling out the brioche, to roll half way and then allow the dough an hour in the fridge to relax before completing the rolling.