Campfire desserts and sweet treats you can cook at your camp

Campfire desserts are the best thing as a pick me up after an exhausting day full of camping activities.

What could be better than a sweet treat or a luxurious desert that you can cook and enjoy around the campfire. The great thing about cooking deserts on your campfire is that you can create a delicious, melted dessert with minimal effort. But if you also want to make baking a part of your camping activities, then you can also spend a bit more time on some camping baking activities that will be so much fun for kids to get stuck into!

S’mores

The first camping dessert that comes to mind is the classic American treat s’mores. These manage to elevate the treat of toasting marshmallows around the campfire into something even more decadent. All you need for this recipe are some biscuits (digestives, or anything similar are perfect), a packet of marshmallows, and a chocolate bar that can be broken up into pieces.   Kids will enjoy running around trying to find and whittle the perfect toasting stick. You can even find double, or triple pronged sticks to toast multiple marshmallows at once! Then just toast the marshmallows until the outside is crisp, and the inside is all melted. To assemble your s’more just sandwich the toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate between two biscuits and enjoy!   There are so many s’more variations you can make, such as oreo s’mores (also known as s’moreos) and if you’d like to try some more variations on the classic s’more, and more camping marshmallow recipes then check out, Moorish Marshmallows cooked on a stick – pack more than you think!  

S’more nachos

If you’d like to make your s’mores a communal dessert that everyone can enjoy together, then why not try out this recipe for s’more nachos. You can make these in an aluminium tray on a campfire or a grill, so heat up your grill, or let the campfire burn down to the coals before you start the recipe.

Break up enough plain biscuits to cover the bottom of your aluminium tray.

In America they use graham crackers, but digestive biscuits are also a great alternative.

Then sprinkle some mini marshmallows over the biscuits.  

Next scatter some chocolate chips over the marshmallows.

Repeat with another layer of biscuits, marshmallows and chocolate chips.

Finally place some more chocolate chips on the top layer, along with some normal sized marshmallows.

Then make a lid for the tray by wrapping some aluminium foil tightly around the sides of the tray.

Once the fire has burnt down to the coals, place on a rack above the fire or grill.

Then cook until the chocolate and marshmallows have melted, you can check whether they’re done by peeling up the foil- just make sure you don’t burn them.

Not camping – you can try these out home in the oven. Now there’s no excuse not to try this sweet treat.

Stuffed bananas

This is a great, slightly healthier alternative to s’mores that can be cooked around the campfire.

Just cut a slit down a banana length ways, making sure not to cut all the way through by stopping when you reach the skin on the other side.

Then stuff with chocolate buttons and marshmallows, wrap the banana in foil and bury in the embers of a campfire that has died down.

Leave for 10 minutes until the fillings are melted and the banana is hot all the way through, then dig in with a spoon.

You don’t need to fill the banana with chocolate and marshmallows.

You could also stuff with chocolate spread, jam, Nutella, peanut butter, crumbled biscuits, nuts or anything else you feel like.  

Thank you Create Mindfully for this yummy recipe idea.

Campfire orange brownies

Before making these camping brownies, make sure your campfire has died down to white hot embers, which are more suitable for cooking the brownies.

Then slice the tops off eight oranges and use a small serrated knife and a teaspoon to remove all the insides without breaking the shell.  

Then add to a small saucepan:

• 100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 125g salted butter
• 75g caster sugar
• 75g light brown soft sugar

Melt on a rack over your campfire, or on medium heat on your camping stove, stirring until smooth.

You can either measure out the ingredients before you go camping, bringing the butter, sugars and chocolate in one container and the flour and cocoa in a second container.

Or you can just bring some scales camping with you.  

Once smooth, remove from the heat.

One at a time, beat in two large eggs and then add 60g self-raising flour and 10g cocoa powder.

Then divide between the oranges, until each orange is around ¾ full of the brownie mix.

Add a piece of milk chocolate in the centre of each orange and place the orange ‘lids’ back on.

Then wrap each orange in foil and bury in the white-hot embers of the fire.

Cook for around 40/45 minutes until the brownie is spongy, but still a bit soft in the middle.

Then eat the brownie with a spoon straight from the orange.  

Thank you Alexander House for this recipe inspiration.

Apple Crisp Foil Packets

In a bowl, combine:

• 2 diced apples
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 4 packed tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cold butter cut into small pieces (or plant based alternative)
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon.

Mix to combine well.

Then in another bowl:

• 4 tbsp oats
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 4 packed tbsp brown sugar
• 1&1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix well.

Then add 4 tbsp cold butter cut into pieces to this bowl and use two forks to mix through the mixture.  

Then cut out two pieces of non-stick foil into 12×8 inch pieces.

Place half the apple mixture into the foil, making sure it’s touching the non-stick side.

Then sprinkle half the crumb mixture over the apples.

Seal the packet in a square shape, securing the edges tightly by folding the foil over.

Then repeat with the other half of the apple and crumb mixtures.

Place on a grill over your campfire for 8-12 minutes.

Once cooked allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Then open the foil packet, top with some cream or custard and enjoy.  

Campfire fondue

Another delicious camping desert is chocolate fondue. This is a delicious and luxurious way to end your camping day. You can dip almost anything into the chocolate fondue, from biscuits, berries and pieces of fruit to marshmallows, pretzels and churros.

For a full step-by-step on how to make chocolate fondue over your campfire, look at The Chocolate or Cheese Fondue Revolution.  

I hope you feel inspired you to try making some of these sweet treats around your campfire. Tucking into one of these tasty camping deserts is definitely the perfect way to end your busy camping day!      

Here’s me signing out and thank you so much for reading.

Lily Crooke / Environmental and Recreational author