diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index 937d51e4..9134d570 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -81,9 +81,11 @@ Basic settings
 
       OUTPUT_RETENTION = [".hg", ".git", ".bzr"]
 
-.. data:: JINJA_EXTENSIONS = []
+.. data:: JINJA_ENVIRONMENT = {'trim_blocks': True, 'lstrip_blocks': True}
 
-   A list of any Jinja2 extensions you want to use.
+   A dictionary of custom Jinja2 environment variables you want to use. This
+   also includes a list of extensions you may want to include.
+   See `Jinja Environment documentation`_.
 
 .. data:: JINJA_FILTERS = {}
 
@@ -1215,4 +1217,5 @@ Example settings
 
 
 .. _Jinja custom filters documentation: http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/api/#custom-filters
+.. _Jinja Environment documentation: http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/dev/api/#jinja2.Environment
 .. _Docutils Configuration: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/config.html
diff --git a/pelican/generators.py b/pelican/generators.py
index af3e3513..a7a7fb25 100644
--- a/pelican/generators.py
+++ b/pelican/generators.py
@@ -61,14 +61,12 @@ class Generator(object):
         simple_loader = FileSystemLoader(os.path.join(theme_path,
                                          "themes", "simple", "templates"))
         self.env = Environment(
-            trim_blocks=True,
-            lstrip_blocks=True,
             loader=ChoiceLoader([
                 FileSystemLoader(self._templates_path),
                 simple_loader,  # implicit inheritance
                 PrefixLoader({'!simple': simple_loader})  # explicit one
             ]),
-            extensions=self.settings['JINJA_EXTENSIONS'],
+            **self.settings['JINJA_ENVIRONMENT']
         )
 
         logger.debug('Template list: %s', self.env.list_templates())
diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index 5773b925..b7ddb814 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -109,8 +109,12 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
         },
         'output_format': 'html5',
     },
-    'JINJA_EXTENSIONS': [],
     'JINJA_FILTERS': {},
+    'JINJA_ENVIRONMENT': {
+        'trim_blocks': True,
+        'lstrip_blocks': True,
+        'extensions': [],
+    },
     'LOG_FILTER': [],
     'LOCALE': [''],  # defaults to user locale
     'DEFAULT_PAGINATION': False,
@@ -162,6 +166,12 @@ def read_settings(path=None, override=None):
                            'PLUGIN_PATHS, moving it to the new setting name.')
             local_settings['PLUGIN_PATHS'] = local_settings['PLUGIN_PATH']
             del local_settings['PLUGIN_PATH']
+        if 'JINJA_EXTENSIONS' in local_settings:
+            logger.warning('JINJA_EXTENSIONS setting has been deprecated, '
+                           'moving it to JINJA_ENVIRONMENT setting.')
+            local_settings['JINJA_ENVIRONMENT']['extensions'] = \
+                local_settings['JINJA_EXTENSIONS']
+            del local_settings['JINJA_EXTENSIONS']
         if isinstance(local_settings['PLUGIN_PATHS'], six.string_types):
             logger.warning("Defining PLUGIN_PATHS setting as string "
                            "has been deprecated (should be a list)")
@@ -215,6 +225,20 @@ def get_settings_from_file(path, default_settings=DEFAULT_CONFIG):
     return get_settings_from_module(module, default_settings=default_settings)
 
 
+def get_jinja_environment(settings):
+    """Sets the environment for Jinja"""
+
+    jinja_env = settings.setdefault('JINJA_ENVIRONMENT',
+                                    DEFAULT_CONFIG['JINJA_ENVIRONMENT'])
+
+    # Make sure we include the defaults if the user has set env variables
+    for key, value in DEFAULT_CONFIG['JINJA_ENVIRONMENT'].items():
+        if key not in jinja_env:
+            jinja_env[key] = value
+
+    return settings
+
+
 def configure_settings(settings):
     """Provide optimizations, error checking, and warnings for the given
     settings.
@@ -251,6 +275,9 @@ def configure_settings(settings):
         if key in settings:
             settings[key] = settings[key].lower()
 
+    # set defaults for Jinja environment
+    settings = get_jinja_environment(settings)
+
     # standardize strings to lists
     for key in ['LOCALE']:
         if key in settings and isinstance(settings[key], six.string_types):
@@ -355,7 +382,6 @@ def configure_settings(settings):
         'EXTRA_TEMPLATES_PATHS',
         'FILES_TO_COPY',
         'IGNORE_FILES',
-        'JINJA_EXTENSIONS',
         'PAGINATED_DIRECT_TEMPLATES',
         'PLUGINS',
         'STATIC_EXCLUDES',
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_generators.py b/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
index feded3e8..3c4684df 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
@@ -98,6 +98,25 @@ class TestGenerator(unittest.TestCase):
             'subdir.md', found_files,
             "get_files() excluded a subdirectory by name, ignoring its path")
 
+    def test_custom_jinja_environment(self):
+        """
+            Test that setting the JINJA_ENVIRONMENT
+            properly gets set from the settings config
+        """
+        settings = get_settings()
+        comment_start_string = 'abc'
+        comment_end_string = '/abc'
+        settings['JINJA_ENVIRONMENT'] = {
+            'comment_start_string': comment_start_string,
+            'comment_end_string': comment_end_string
+        }
+        generator = Generator(settings.copy(), settings,
+                              CUR_DIR, settings['THEME'], None)
+        self.assertEqual(comment_start_string,
+                         generator.env.comment_start_string)
+        self.assertEqual(comment_end_string,
+                         generator.env.comment_end_string)
+
 
 class TestArticlesGenerator(unittest.TestCase):