By New Year's 2026. Wait — 2025. The year we're in is 2025. I keep jumping ahead. The years are moving faster now. Marriage accelerates time. Wanting a baby accelerates time. Everything accelerates until you're standing in your kitchen at midnight holding your wife and wondering where the year went.
Champagne. Cheese board. The kitchen. The couch. Our tradition. At midnight I kissed Megan and she said, "This year." I said, "This year." The same words as last year. The same hope. But heavier now. Denser. Ten months of trying. "This year" is no longer casual optimism. It's a declaration. A demand to the universe. This year. Please.
The first week of January is always hard. Cold, dark, the post-holiday letdown. I go back to the brewery and the tanks are cold and the work is quiet and the barrel room hums with fermenting beer that is, like everything else in my life, taking its time. I check the barrels. I pull samples. I trust the process. I wait.
Made Babcia's bigos — the hunter's stew — because January demands it. The recipe hasn't changed in the thirty years since Babcia wrote it on a card. Sauerkraut, cabbage, pork, kielbasa, mushrooms, caraway. It simmers all day. The apartment smells like Warsaw in winter. Like home. Like every cold day I've ever survived. You eat bigos and you survive the cold. That's the deal. That's the covenant between a Pole and a stove.
The cheese board is our anchor — champagne comes and goes, the clock hits midnight and resets, but that board stays. Brie has been on it since our first New Year’s together, and somewhere along the way I started frying it, crusting it in nuts, turning it into something you have to stop yourself from eating before midnight. If the bigos is what gets me through January, these brie bites are what close out December — warm, ridiculous, exactly right.
Nut Crusted Fried Brie Bites
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 8 oz brie cheese, rind on, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 3/4 cup finely chopped mixed nuts (walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts)
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- Vegetable oil, for frying (about 2 inches deep)
- Honey or fruit jam, for serving
- Fresh thyme or rosemary, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Freeze the brie. Place brie cubes on a parchment-lined plate and freeze for 15 minutes. Cold brie holds its shape during frying and prevents blowouts.
- Set up your breading station. Place flour in one shallow bowl, beaten eggs in a second, and combine chopped nuts, panko, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a third.
- Bread the bites. Working quickly with the chilled brie, dredge each cube in flour, shake off excess, dip into egg, then press firmly into the nut-panko mixture to coat all sides. Return to the plate and refrigerate while oil heats.
- Heat the oil. Pour vegetable oil into a heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven to a depth of 2 inches. Heat over medium-high to 350°F. Use a thermometer — temperature control is everything here.
- Fry in batches. Fry 4–5 brie bites at a time for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, turning once, until deep golden brown. Do not crowd the pan. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack or paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve immediately. Arrange on a board with a small bowl of honey or fruit jam alongside. Garnish with fresh thyme if desired. These are best eaten hot — the cheese inside should be just melted and gooey.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 11g | Fat: 24g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 320mg