Baked Camembert with Hot Honey

This is a very versatile recipe. I mean the whole Camembert is there for sure, and who doesn't like a chunk of oozing cheese to eat along with bread? So what goes around the cheese is more so additional points here and there per my opinion.

Honey is another key, it is an ingredient that most likely goes really well with most variety of cheese. So we have the Camembert and honey down for sure. All other extra elements solely depend on your own preference. 

Simply use whichever herb you usually enjoy in a dish, such as rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Dried red chili flakes is my favorite, but a little twist by using pink peppercorns or even Thai sweet chili sauce can be fun too. Remember, the key is to incorporate things that you normally love in this baked cheese recipe.

Baked Camembert with hot honey - 

Ingredients?

• 1 round Camembert cheese
• 1 small sprig rosemary
• 1 garlic clove
• Some baguette or other type of bread of your liking
• Some extra virgin olive oil
• Some salt flakes
• Some black pepper
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes (I used 1 tablespoon of Thai sweet chili sauce instead)

How?

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius / 395 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the Camembert from the plastic packaging if there's any, but do save the wooden box. Simply put the cheese back to the wooden box, which can act like a serving container. I further use a baking dish to hold the cheese box in case of any spilling in the oven later on.

Use a knife and score the top of the Camembert. Peel and slice the garlic. Insert the garlic slices here and there within the cracks on the surface of the cheese. Also pick out some rosemary and insert that to the cheese too. 

Since we will be heating up the honey in the oven, I didn't intend to make the hot honey prior, but simply mixing room temperature honey with some Thai sweet chili sauce. You can mix honey with dried red chili flakes too. Pour that all over the cheese. Also sprinkle some salt and pepper on top.

Into the oven. Mine baked for about 15 minutes. Should be around that time. The basic idea is to use high heat and bake till the cheese seems about to melt. Note that the surface of the Camembert might still appear slightly solid, so just aim for the oozing cheese underneath.

Once ready, remove the Camembert from the oven. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and serve with preferred bread. I used some baguette slices.

You can also pre-toast the bread slices. Slightly crunchy bread works and dips even better with melted Camembert.

Of course you can serve it with crackers too. But crackers tend to break more easily, so in that case, perhaps have some utensils on the side to scoop out the cheese then spread onto the crackers instead.  

Other recipes good with a glass of wine or two (don't drink and drive):

• Steamed clams with smoked bacon in white wine parsley sauce
• Less oil fried cream cheese wontons