Intro
This one is really easy to put together; and it is so-o-o-o delicious! I served it at our last friends gathering and, surprise-surprise, this appetizer was much appreciated not by woman, how I would expect, but men! Turned out it's a great pair for beloved Courvoisier cognac our men love so much. Anyway I hardly managed to sneak a piece of it to enjoy for breakfast next morning. No questions, I'll be doing it again and again.
Idea of this appetizer came to my mind, when on a shelves of our local grocery, I spotted brie covered with apricot preserves and sprinkled with a sliced almond. Price of this delicacy bit a bit :) so I decided to grab camembert (as it more flavorful than brie) and for rest of ingredients - to use whatever preserves and nuts I'll find home. I put some easy twist on it and voila - the best ever (well, for me) appetizer is born!
Variations
- Camembert or brie - it's your choice which one to use. I used camembert just because for some mysterious reasons I like it more.
- Practically, any fruit preserves can be used. As, in this recipe, boost flavor of preserves with a fresh fruit, pureed: for example, apricot preserves + fresh apricot puree, or raspberry jam + fresh raspberry puree and so on!
- I used toasted crushed almonds, but I'm sure any nuts will work here.
Taste is rich, sophisticated and satisfying. It involves all your taste buds to process amazing marriage of saltiness and sweetness, nutty-cheesy-fruity flavor laying on a sea of crunchy-creamy-chewy texture. Amazing experience!
Serve pre-cut into a small sections, on a large plate with a sliced baguette or giabatta bread.
To serve it as hors d'oeuvre, go step further by placing each slice of camembert with its topping right onto half of a baguette slice.
To serve it as hors d'oeuvre, go step further by placing each slice of camembert with its topping right onto half of a baguette slice.
Camembert Cheese Appetizer
1 c of mixed berry preserves
6-8 fresh strawberries
1 c raw almonds
Giabatta bread or baguette
- First, toast your almonds in an oven. I use my toaster oven at 300F, it takes about 20 minutes. Your oven may take different amount of time, adjust accordingly and toast almonds until kernels are slightly golden.
- Using blender or processor, puree your strawberries and mix them with preserves.
- On a large plate, place camembert and, using thin sharp knife, cut it into small sections. Expend circle of sections carefully to make room in between the sections.
- Pour preserves mixture on a top of camembert.
- Crush almond slightly - I use sandwich zip-bag and kitchen hammer for this (see the pictures below). Sprinkle almonds on a top of camembert.
- Slice the baguette and place around.
- Serve and enjoy! For those who never tried cheese/preserve treats before, you may want to make promoting speech about how delicious this is. And then watch your appetizer disappearing.
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IN PICTURES
I spread sections out a little bit to allow room for preserves.
Crushing almonds with a meat tenderizer (hammer) is an easy task.
This is that piece I was lucky to save for my next morning breakfast! There is one challenge though - to gulp it all at once or try to make couple bites without creating any mess :)
Very unique and interesting combination of ingredients!
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It sounded awkward combination for me, at first..until I tasted. You'll be surprised how good it is! Well.. word "good" is not nearly enough for this one :)
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