diff --git a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/DebugUtil.java b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/DebugUtil.java
index 001169930..2ade26e70 100644
--- a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/DebugUtil.java
+++ b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/DebugUtil.java
@@ -1,11 +1,26 @@
 package org.jbake.app;
 
 import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.sql.SQLOutput;
 import java.util.Map;
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 
 public class DebugUtil
 {
-    public static <T extends Object> void printMap(Map<String, T> map, PrintStream printStream){
+    public static <T extends Object> void printMap(String label, Map<String, T> map, PrintStream printStream){
+        if (null == map) {
+            printStream.println("The Map is null.");
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (null == printStream) {
+            printStream = System.out;
+            return;
+        }
+        if (!StringUtils.isBlank(label)) {
+            printStream.println(label + ":");
+        }
+
         printStream.println();
         for (Map.Entry<String, T> entry: map.entrySet()) {
             printStream.println(entry.getKey() + " :: " + entry.getValue());
diff --git a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/Oven.java b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/Oven.java
index c96614127..14b29cf09 100644
--- a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/Oven.java
+++ b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/Oven.java
@@ -140,13 +140,11 @@ public void bake() {
             // render content
             renderContent();
 
-            {
-                // copy assets
-                asset.copy();
-                asset.copyAssetsFromContent(config.getContentFolder());
+            // copy assets
+            asset.copy();
+            asset.copyAssetsFromContent(config.getContentFolder());
 
-                errors.addAll(asset.getErrors());
-            }
+            errors.addAll(asset.getErrors());
 
             LOGGER.info("Baking finished!");
             long end = new Date().getTime();
diff --git a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/parser/MarkupEngine.java b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/parser/MarkupEngine.java
index 725d60a63..f5594c99b 100644
--- a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/parser/MarkupEngine.java
+++ b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/parser/MarkupEngine.java
@@ -124,9 +124,10 @@ public Map<String, Object> parse(JBakeConfiguration config, File file) {
                 hasHeader);
 
         Map<String, String> headersMap = parseHeaderBlock(context);
-        DebugUtil.printMap(headersMap, System.out);
+        DebugUtil.printMap("Headers of " + file, headersMap, System.out);
 
-        applyHeadersToDocument(headersMap, context.getDocumentModel());
+        if (headersMap != null)
+            applyHeadersToDocument(headersMap, context.getDocumentModel());
 
         setModelDefaultsIfNotSetInHeader(context);
         sanitizeTags(context);
@@ -212,7 +213,14 @@ private boolean hasHeader(List<String> fileLines)
 
 
     /**
-     * Process the header of the file.
+     * Parse the headers of the file being parsed in given context.
+     *
+     * This method should parse the headers and return them for further processing.
+     * Otherwise the implementation may opt to apply the headers to the document itself and return null.
+     *
+     * TODO: The processing should be flatter in general, IMHO.
+     *       Rather than nesting X levels deep to process a document, config overlays, an index, etc.,
+     *       the code blocks should pass packages of information around. Otherwise making JBake pluggable would be harder.
      *
      * @param context the parser context
      */