All Wrapped Up – Camembert En Croute for Christmas

It seems I am developing an aptitude for creating “stunt cheese” or “extreme cheese challenges”. First there was the infamous “Turkey Cheese” for Thanksgiving and now folks, I present to you my latest creation…

This is a wheel of Camembert wrapped in puff pastry and baked. I had planned to do this with Brie, as is the traditional way, but believe  it or not I struggled to find a suitable wheel.

I also had a scramble to find readymade puff pastry sheets big enough (who has time to make puff pastry on Christmas Day) but managed to cobble together a casing from some small squares, well placed egg wash  and a lot of pushing and pulling. I even managed a half arsed holly sprig on the top.

Bake it in a hot oven at 200 degrees until it’s browned and serve hot with some chutney or cheery compote as we did along with fresh crusty bread or crackers. Camembert is a good cheese to use for this as it holds up well in cooking due to the skin around it yet still has the “ooze factor”. You can also bake the cheese wheel in the paper box it comes in as well as add other goodies like rosemary or a layer of chutney (if using pastry)

This was our starter for our “Orphan’s Christmas” in Doha this year hosted by my friend Brooke (the architect of the stunning beetroot and goat cheese terrine also seen in these photos). There is no better way to spend Christmas away from home than with good friend, good wine and good cheese.