Christmas Baked Camembert

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]kay guys, I know it’s November. But like, it’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, is it? And even if you don’t want to think about Christmas, it’s never too early for excellent knitwear and gooey cheese. Never. I won’t hear anything to the contrary.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but last year I lived in Paris. I know. Shocking. A revelation.

Y’know what they do pretty well in France? Cheese. They do cheese pretty bloody well. (They also do things like pastries and breads and meats and chips and wines pretty well too).

A few weeks ago the lovely people at Boohoo got in touch, asking me to share one my of fave Christmas recipes. I thought about all of the obvious things: mince pies, Christmas pudding and the like. But everyone goes for those things, don’t they? What about all the little things that no one ever thinks of. What about the things we eat when we’re stuffed with chocolate and can’t face a full meal but want something indulgent? What about those times we just want to throw a whole wheel of cheese in the oven and call it dinner?

You’ve come to the right place my friend. You’ve come to the right place. This little baby is so bloody indulgent and so bloody simple and the fact that I got to make one to show you is exciting enough. I literally sat and ate it on the stairs of my block, listening to Christmas songs and donning this pretty fab Christmas jumper*. Like, who actually goes to university to do work and stuff? On a Friday afternoon? Nah m8.

Do you want the recipe for this little bundle of joy? This melt in the mouth wheel of delight? You’re in luck. I’m feeling generous and am therefore going to share with you my all time favourite comfort food.

INGREDIENTS:

• Camembert – like any camembert, as fancy or as cheap as you like. Mine was the only one Durham Tesco had and it was excellent.
• Rosemary (dry or fresh)
• 2-ish garlic cloves
• Dried cranberries
• Olive oil
• Crusty bread

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to around 180C, or whatever the equivalent is for you and your oven.
2. Leaving your camembert in the box, score the top with a sharp knife. Kinda like a checker board. Get all those lines in there.
3. Peel and chop your garlic cloves into little pieces. Push them into the corners of each scored square. Get them right in there so the camembert takes on that amazing garlic flavour that we all love.
4. Do the same with sprigs of fresh rosemary, or if using dried rosemary give it a good sprinkle.
5. Do the same with the dried cranberries. As many or as few as you fancy.
6. Give it a good drizzle with the oil – I actually use a garlic infused olive oil and it’s the bomb!
7. Whack it in the oven for a good twenty minutes. Enough to get all that cheese all melty and hot and bubbly. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn or leak too much (it may bubble over a little so maybe put it on a baking tray?)
8. Tear/cut yourself some crusty bread chunks, drizzle with a little oil and rosemary.
9. Grab your cheese from the oven (carefully) and go to town. You’ve earned it.

So there we have it! The perfect indulgent ‘I can’t be bothered to cook but want something amazing’ winter meal. I’ll be whacking a good few more in the oven this year so watch my instagram for those. I might try to figure out a chocolate version too – although that’s probably just a fondue, isn’t it? Whatever. It’s still really delicious and exciting.

I also feel like this camembert recipe would go really well with bacon? Oh my god, I’m going to dip leftover pigs in blankets into it. Who am I kidding? Who has leftover pigs in blankets?!

0