Brie-stuffed Latkes

So, excited, now I have leftover brie to eat with crackers! Brie is my favorite cheese. I bet if you really think hard about it you have a favorite cheese, too. That'd be a pretty good ice breaker question instead of what's your favorite color I think. Anyway, these took FOREVER to make, as do most things.

They are good though, but I almost lit my apartment on fire...again. I was holding a paper towel that was on fire, staring at it trying to figure out the best course of action. I ended up throwing it into a pot and pouring water on it.

Also, Happy Hanukkah from your Catholic friend. I know it doesn't start until the 20th, but I'll be surrounded by Christmas time festivities then, so I figured I'd make these early.

Brie-Stuffed Latkes

4 large potatoes, parboiled and peeled
2 large eggs, scrambled
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2/3 pound Brie, rind on
Handful of all-puropse flour
1 tsp baking powder
Dash of milk, soymilk, cream, or water
Salt and pepper, to taste

Vegetable oil, to shallow-fry

We're following this technique almost totally - the only difference is the stuffing part, which happens in the pan, so procede as decribed - parboiling, peeling and shredding your taters - shredding the onion over the same disc, adding your minced garlic, salt and pepper, then mix. Add your eggs, flour, baking powder, mix, and then a tiny pour of milk, until you see batter thinly coating each shred of tater.

Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a heavy iron skillet to medium. Have your cheese at the ready. We're keeping the heat a little lower than usual to give us time to make and stuff three latkes at a time.

Fork about a tablespoon of batter into the pan and flatten it with the back of a spoon. Quickly press a piece of brie into the batter, leaving a border of pancake free from cheese all the way around it. Fold it to fit if need be. Fork an equal portion of batter over the cheese, making sure to enclose it completely. Procede to make 2 more latkes in this way - by time you finish the third, it'll be time to flip the first.

When you flip these babies, press down slightly to compress, but be gentle. You don't want to squash your cheese out of its pocket.

Continue making latkes until the batter is gone. You'll have 10-12 large pancakes.