5 Easy camping desserts

S’mores is the classic camping dessert of choice. And, while I love a good s’more, this sticky treat is not your only option when heading out to spend time in nature. Here are some sweet treats to try on your next camping trip!

Fancy S’mores

Ingredients

• Cracker: Graham Crackers (I like cinnamon), Oreos, Chocolate chip cookies
• Marshmallows: (Vegan marshmallows are tasty for those avoiding animal products!)
• Chocolate: your favorite type; salted caramel, dark chocolate, or a good ‘ol Hershey’s bar
• Toppings: Peanut butter, Nutella, cookie butter, caramel

Preparation

Get creative with your s’mores and zhoosh them up! Set up your “crackers” so they are ready to be s’mored.. Add a small spoonful of your topping of choice. Top one cracker piece (or both… no judgment here) with chocolate. Roast your marshmallow over the campfire to your liking, whether that be slightly toasty, golden brown or blackened. Smush your marshmallow between the crackers and savor your gooey masterpiece.

Orange Campfire Cakes

Ingredients

• 6 oranges
• Box of chocolate cake (or any other cake flavor you like)
• 1 cup water
• ⅓ cup oil
• 3 eggs
• Tub of chocolate frosting (or any other frosting flavor you like)
• Aluminum foil

Preparation

Build your campfire and let it roast to embers to be ready to cook on. Cut a piece of foil large enough to fully wrap each orange. Cut the very top off your oranges and scoop the fruit out of the peel keeping the peel intact besides the one piece off the top, so you are left with an orange peel cup. Reserve the orange tops to place back on top.

Make your cake batter following the instructions on the box. Fill your orange peel cup about ¾ full. Place the orange top back on and wrap the orange in foil. Once you have all your orange peel cups filled and wrapped, place them on the embers. Start checking them after 10 minutes. The orange peels may look charred but make sure the cake is cooked through by removing the peel lid and taking a peek

Once the cakes are done cooking, remove the oranges from the fire and let them cool for 10 minutes. Top with a large dollop of frosting and enjoy!

Dump cake

Ingredients

• 2 cans of pie filling
• Box of cake mix
• Can of soda
• Foil
• Dutch oven

Preparation

Dump cake is super simple, because you dump the ingredients in and then let it cook. The hardest part is choosing your flavors and getting the heavy Dutch oven to camp to cook it in.

As far as flavors go, you can get creative! I like apple pie filling, yellow cake and sprite. I have also heard of people doing cherry filling, chocolate cake and coca-cola. Or peach filling, vanilla cake and sprite. Follow your heart!

First things first, make your campfire and get it ready to cook on with hot embers. For easy clean up, line your Dutch oven with foil. Place your lined Dutch oven on the fire to heat up for about 10 minutes. Once heated, remove the top with pot holders. (It will be hot!)

Pour your two cans of pie filling into the Dutch oven and spread over the bottom. (If you are using apple pie filling, I like to add a little cinnamon on top.) Top with your dry cake mix. Next pour some of your can of soda on top of the cake mix, just slightly mixing with a knife. You don’t want to pour the whole soda and make it soggy. Just enough for the cake mix to be a bit wet, maybe ½ to ¾ of the can. Re-cover your Dutch oven with the lid. Let cook for about 45 to 50 minutes. It is done when a toothpick or fork comes out of the cake topping clean. Remove from heat and relish in the smell of fresh cake.

Campfire pudding puff

Ingredients

• Can of crescent rolls
• Box of pudding mix
• Milk
• Cinnamon sugar
• Wooden dowel

Preparation

Build your campfire. Mix up your pudding following the instructions on the box. Open the crescent rolls. Wrap one around the end of a wooden dowel completely encapsulating it. Cook the crescent roll over your hot embers until cooked completely. Pour cinnamon sugar on a plate. Roll the crescent roll in cinnamon sugar and then remove it from the dowel. Use a spoon to fill your crescent roll with pudding and enjoy a campfire pudding puff.

Banana Boats

Ingredients

• Bananas
• Toppings: Chocolate chips, toasted coconut, mini marshmallows, peanut butter, nutella, cookie butter, strawberries, caramel, etc.
• Aluminum foil

Preparation

Get your campfire ready by burning wood until hot embers remain. Slice bananas (still in the peel) down the middle the long way. Stuff toppings of your choice inside. Wrap each banana tightly in foil. Place them on the campfire turning every so often. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the banana softens. Open and enjoy!