I’m on the hunt for new ways to make en croûte wheels of brie. Brie en croûte (“en croûte” means “in the crust”) is a staple New Year’s Eve party snack, promising decadence with soft, oozing cheese. Many recipes add jam, honey, or nuts to the parcel, but I say we ring in 2024 with a dose of quirkiness and ground beef. Instead of serving the same old baked brie, serve the unexpected at this year’s New Year’s Eve party. Wow your guests with a Taco Bell-inspired Crunchwrap Supreme brie en croûte.

I’m not ashamed of my love for Taco Bell, and the Crunchwrap Supreme is hands down their best offering. It features seasoned ground beef, melted cheese, a hard corn tortilla, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream, all wrapped up in a soft tortilla. The bag is cooked on both sides to secure and warm the tortilla. It may not be fancy, but it’s damn good.

En croûte simply means “in the crust,” so it seems to me that whatever makes a Crunchwrap great could make a brie en croûte even better. (What monster would turn down a savory, Taco Bell-inspired baked brie?) I was planning on adding seasoned beef and all the attendant fixings to a wheel of brie, but then I was wondering, “What do I wrap it in?” A Crunchwrap is secured in a soft flour tortilla, which adds chewiness and an easy-to-handle wrapper. A traditional brie en croûte is wrapped in puff pastry, which adds a crunchy, rich, buttery crust. I couldn’t decide, so I did both.

I found the puff pastry version to be a glorious display of bronzed pastry and heaping lettuce. It’s much more party-perfect in terms of presentation. I cut into it a little too early, as is the case with all baked brie, so the cheese was a little too melted. Otherwise, it did what it said it would: Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme flavors with a decadent buttery crust and melted brie cheese.