French Camembert with Salted Caramel (Camembert au Caramel Beurre Salé)
This modern sweet-and-savoury twist from Normandy combines decadent camembert cheese with a bittersweet caramel glaze - perfect for festive cheeseboards.
On a recent lectureship I visited Normandy in France - the home of camembert cheese. Camembert is an aged cheese that dates back a few hundred years, created by a Normandy farmer who was enamoured with the taste of brie. Normandy is well-known for it’s supreme quality dairy, and so a cousin to brie was born. Camembert has graced cheeseboards all over the world for over a decade now, and here is a new, modern twist from Normandy to rediscover it. Salted caramel, another product of Normandy to take the world by storm, is made with salted butter from Normandy. We’ll be making a small batch of Normandy butter caramel to baste over the brie as it comes out of the oven, perfect to enjoy with sliced apples and your favourite bread during the festive period. Let’s go!
INGREDIENTS (serves 1-2x)
1x small drum of quality French camembert
60g granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of water
25g high-quality salted butter (French if possible - Normandy or Brittany)
To serve: white bread, crackers, sliced apples
WALKTHROUGH
First, preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
Remove the camembert from its box and remove any wrapping around the cheese. Place the cheese back into its wooden box. Using a sharp knife, score two lines across the camembert to make a cross. Place the camembert on a baking tray until ready to bake.
Before we bake the cheese, lets make the butter caramel. In a saucepan, add the 60g of sugar along with 2 tablespoons of water. Place the pan onto a medium-low heat. Do not stir the pan - this can make the sugar crystallise. Allow it to come to a gentle boil and wait for the sugar to dissolve.
Once the sugar dissolves, continue simmering the mixture steadily on low heat, swirling minimally until the mixture starts to turn copper-brown - like a penny.
Add the 25g of salted butter and swirl the pan, allowing the butter to seethe and melt into the caramel. Turn off the heat. It may look oily or curdled at this stage, this is normal. Using a whisk, beat the mixture until it cools slightly and the butter emulsifies smoothly with the caramel. Set the caramel aside while we bake the cheese - don’t worry if it thickens or solidifies during this time, we can reheat to melt it again.
Once the oven is heated, place the camembert and its tray into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes at 180C/350F. The cheese should be slightly tender to touch in the middle. Avoid over-baking as this can cause the cheese to curdle.
Remove the camembert from the oven and spoon over 2 tablespoons of the thickened caramel. If the caramel has solidified, just place scoop of it onto the camembert. Return the camembert to the oven and bake for a further 2-3 minutes until the caramel begins to melt and bubble slightly
Serve the camembert while it’s hot with white bread, crackers and sliced apples. Drizzle a little more caramel at the table if desired. Enjoy!
