Rapid-Source

Split the wheel of Camembert cheese in half.
Spread the preserves over the exposed cheese then sprinkle with the sliced figs. Make sure this mixture is spread out evenly.
Replace the top part of the cheese over the bottom portion and sandwich the filling.

Place into a refrigerator and chill down. Working with the Filo dough is not hard but it is a little tricky. Following these tips will help insure success
1)When not in use keep the Filo sheets covered with a damp cloth.
2) Keep your Butter warm.
3) Remember Clarified Butter is all fat and when cool it will get very hard, so make sure you have all of your ingredients ready and work quickly.
Begin by placing one sheet of Filo dough in front of you and using a pastry brush coat the single layer of dough evenly and thoroughly.
Place a second sheet over the first and brush this as well the same way.
Now replete this process 3 more times so you have 5 buttered layers forming on stack.
Place this stack of Filo out of your way and cover it with a sheet of wax paper. Now repeats the above process 3 more times until you have 4 stacks of Filo dough.
Take 2 stacks of Filo and lay them out in front of you length ways, over lap the 2 by a ½ an inch or so. This will produce one large sheet enough to wrap the cheese with.
Remove the cheese from the frig and pace onto the now larger stack on Filo. • Bring the dough up and over the cheese and cover as well as you can. Do not worry if it dose not fully cover the cheese.
Take the last 2 stacks of Filo and lay them out in front of you length ways, over lap the 2 by a ½ inch or so. This will produce one large sheet enough to wrap the cheese with.
Place the cheese down onto this stack of Filo dough with the open uncovered side down. Trim off both 1-inch of both sides of the dough and reserve for garnishing latter.
Now fold the dough up and over the cheese and massage it smooth very lightly.
Turn the cheese over onto a small cookie tray with the exposed seams down and hidden.
Take the excess Filo and make a few leaves and a Filo flower to garnish the top use the butter to adhere the pastry garnish to the top of the cheese.
At this point the Cheese can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored in the frig for up to 3 days.
Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees.
Place the un-wrapped Filo En-Crusted Camembert into the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. The trick here is to time this so that the out side of the dough gets nicely golden brown and the center of the cheese slightly warms (SLIGHTLY) if it gets to warm the cheese will run and break through the dough and you will lose your presentation but you can still offer it cause it will still be delicious.
Remove the cheese from the oven and place it onto a silver tray and garnish around the cheese with the sliced baguettes and the assorted crackers, serve right away.

Additional Tips

Some times I find it necessary to put the covered cheese into the freezer to get it really cold and when I have several of them to bake even a little frozen so that the center dose not be come to warm before the crust gets golden brown.

Its better to have the center cold and the out side golden brown then you can remove the cheese and slow down the oven by reducing the temperature down to 325 degrees.

Then you can control the center temperature much better. If you have a meat thermometer you can check the cheese and pull it from the oven at around 85 to 100 degrees. This will produce a consistent product every time.

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