S'mores aren't the only delicious dessert recipes for camping! Look beyond them to add scrumptious desserts to your camping meal plan. Use campfire cooking equipment like grill baskets and Dutch ovens round out traditional camping meals with exciting desserts. Keep in mind cooking times will vary based on the size, shape, and temperature of your campfire, and keep a close watch on campfire desserts.
Brookie Skillet Dessert
An easy dessert to cook on a campfire and get your chocolate fix is to make brownies or cookies as one big brownie or cookie in a cast iron skillet. If you're not up on dessert trends, a brookie is a brownie mixed with a cookie, typically chocolate chip.
Ingredients
- Half batch of brownie batter - store bought or homemade ahead of time and chilled
- Half batch of chocolate chip cookie batter - store bought or homemade ahead of time, rolled and chilled as a log
- Butter
- Aluminum foil
Instructions
- Pre-heat your skillet for about 15 minutes.
- Coat the hot pan in butter.
- Slice your cookie dough log into about 1 inch thick slices and place all around the skillet. Since cookies bake faster than brownies, thicker slices will ensure the cookies don't end up overcooked.
- Pour brownie batter between cookie dough slices.
- Cover the skillet with foil and place on fire.
- Cook about 20-30 minutes or until the top looks cooked.
- Take the skillet off the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
- Flip the skillet to dump the brookie on a plate or cut pieces out of the skillet like a pie and serve.
Hazelnut Spread, Strawberry, and Banana Burritos
If you love a chocolate dessert when camping, these burritos are for you. Tortillas are always better when heated over an open flame, so that just adds to the delicious flavor of these simple desserts. You can change out the fillings for any flavors you love most to create your own camping dessert burritos.
Ingredients
- Fajita size flour tortillas - one per burrito
- Hazelnut spread - about one tablespoon
- Bananas - about half a banana per burrito
- Strawberries - sliced thin
- Aluminum foil
Instructions
- Slice the bananas and strawberries into thin disks and set aside.
- Lay a square piece of aluminum foil down that is big enough to wrap your burrito.
- Take your tortilla and heat it over the fire either on a grate, in a cast iron pan, or by carefully moving it back and forth through a small flame with fireproof tongs.
- Set your hot tortilla on the foil and spread the hazelnut spread down the center third of the tortilla.
- Line banana and strawberry slices on the hazelnut spread.
- Wrap the tortilla into a burrito by folding up the bottom quarter, then folding the left side over the fruit, and rolling.
- Wrap the rolled burrito in foil and place over coals.
- You're just warming the hazelnut spread so it gets nice and gooey, so it should only take a minute or two.
- Remove the foil burrito from the fire, remove the foil, and enjoy your burrito.
Foil Packet Cherry and Dark Chocolate Pie
When you're on an adults-only camping trip, you might want to make some more sophisticated campfire desserts. This dessert features a great flavor combination reminiscent of that other famous chocolate camping dessert.
Ingredients
- Pitted and de-stemmed cherries - fresh or canned cherry pie filling works
- Dark chocolate chips
- Pre-baked pie crust - homemade or store-bought works
- Aluminum foil
- Gallon size zip-top bag
Instructions
- Cut a piece of aluminum foil that is roughly 18 inches square. Fold it in half.
- Put pie crust into zip-top bag and close.
- Use your hands, the table, or whatever you can to crush the pie crust into small chunks without ripping the bag.
- Place a few pie chunks down the center of your foil piece, leaving room on all sides to fold the foil.
- Add cherries and chocolate chips on top of pie chunks.
- Pull up the left and right sides of the foil piece then roll them together to one side to seal.
- Roll up the ends and seal.
- Cook the foil packet over the fire for about five minutes or until the chocolate chips are melted.
- Eat with a spoon directly out of the foil packet.
Apple Pie Kabobs
Enjoy that classic apple pie flavor without all the work when you make campfire apple pie kabobs. You can change out the type of biscuit dough and apples you use to get different levels of sweetness. These are so easy and fun to make, even kids will enjoy them.
Ingredients
- Apples, quartered - about half an apple per kabob
- Tube of cinnamon roll dough - about one biscuit per kabob
- Wooden kabob skewers
Instructions
- Slide the apples onto the stick and cook over the fire on a grate for about five minutes.
- Remove from the fire and let the apples cool.
- Roll the biscuit dough for a single biscuit into a snake-like long piece.
- Wrap the biscuit dough in a spiral around the apples. Pinch the dough onto the stick at each end to help it stay.
- Cook over the fire for another ten minutes or until the dough is clearly done.
- Eat straight off the stick.
Simple Camping Desserts for People Who Don't Like S'mores
Easy camping meals should always end with a simple dessert, even for people who don't like marshmallows, chocolate, and S'mores. When packing your food to bring camping, include plenty of non-chocolate sweet ingredients such as fruits and fruit spreads.
Grilled Fruit With Drizzle
If you don't have an extreme sweet tooth, grilled fruit is the camping dessert for you. Use a grill basket with a handle to cook the fruit of your choice by placing the filled basket over the fire for a few minutes on each side. Depending on the fruit you choose, drizzle it with either honey or balsamic vinegar during or after cooking. Some great grilled fruit and topping combos include:
- Grilled watermelon with balsamic drizzle
- Grilled pineapple sprinkled with brown sugar
- Grilled peaches with honey
Banana Kabobs
Create yummy dessert kabobs that require no cooking when it's raining or storming and you don't have a fire to cook on. Banana bread kabobs are easy to make on the fly and can be drizzled with chocolate, hazelnut spread, or caramel sauce if you want to add a dash of sweetness. Ingredients include:
- Loaf of dense banana bread
- Bananas
- Kabob skewers
- Optional: Melted chocolate, hazelnut spread, or caramel sauce
Follow these easy instructions to make your kabobs:
- Cut the banana bread into roughly 1 inch square chunks.
- Cut each banana into roughly 1 inch long chunks.
- Slide the bread chunks and banana chunks on the kebab skewer, alternating between the two.
- Drizzle with desired topping if you want to add sweetness.
- Eat straight off the skewer.
Fruit-Filled Pancake Rolls
There's no law that says pancakes are just for breakfast, especially if you're a fan of desserts that aren't sugar sweet. Ingredients to pack include:
- Pancake batter
- Canned fruit pie filling - any variety works
- Toothpicks
Make the pancakes by following these instructions:
- Make thin pancakes in your cast iron skillet.
- Take one pancake and spread a thin layer of fruit pie filling down the center third of the pancake.
- Fold the pancake like a burrito and hold the shape by sticking a toothpick through it.
- Place all the rolled, filled pancakes back in the skillet to warm the filling for a few minutes.
Gourmet Pie Iron Pies
If you own a pie iron, chances are you made some classic pie iron pizzas or pie iron pies. You can use either any variety of bread or biscuit dough for the crust of your pies, then fill them with any flavors you like. You always want to butter either the outside of your bread or the insides of your pie iron before cooking. Try out these unconventional pie iron pie combinations:
- Apple pie filling and one slice of cheddar cheese with Brioche buns
- White bread filled with chocolate chips, mini flavored marshmallows, and mini cinnamon graham crackers
- Blueberry pie filling with Feta cheese or goat cheese on wheat bread
- Lemon pie filling with dark chocolate chips on white bread
- Raspberry pie filling with marshmallows on white bread
Super Fast Semi-Homemade Camping Dessert Recipes
If you don't feel like slaving over the campfire or want simple kids' camping recipes for dessert, try super simple semi-homemade camping desserts. Some of the best foods to take camping include pre-packaged foods that won't attract animals or make a mess of your cooler.
Grilled Pound Cake
Buy a loaf of pound cake, angel food cake, or even butter cake from the bakery section at your grocery store and pack it for camping. You can grill slices of the cake using a grill basket with a handle and eat it plain. If you want to add sweetness, consider topping your grilled cake slice with fruit, peanut butter, or maple syrup.
Walking Non-Ice Cream Sundaes
Get inspired by easy foods like walking tacos and create bagged desserts the kids can carry around and eat. Bring along:
- Individual bags of mini cookies - any variety, one per sundae
- Chopped nuts
- Whipped cream or vanilla yogurt
- Chocolate or caramel sundae sauce
Put together the walking sundaes:
- Open the bag of cookies along the top seam.
- Fold the top down and hold it closed while you lightly crush the cookies by squeezing the bag.
- Add chopped nuts, whipped cream or yogurt, and sauce directly into the bag.
- Fold the top down and hold it closed while you gently shake the bag.
- Enjoy your walking sunday with a spoon straight out of the bag.
Fluff Cookie Sandwiches
Make your own cookie sandwiches on the fly when you have a variety of store-bought cookies on hand at camp. Just a couple ingredients are needed:
- Two cookies per sandwich, any variety works
- Marshmallow fluff (store-bought or homemade)
Make these simple sandwiches by:
- Choose two of the same cookie or one of two different cookies.
- Spread some marshmallow Fluff on the flat side of one cookie.
- Press the flat side of the other cookie onto the Fluff to form a sandwich.
Chocolate Covered Potato Chips
Similar to the walking sundaes, this simple dessert uses individual bags of potato chips you can enjoy on the go. You probably have these ingredients in your cupboard:
- Individual bags of plain potato chips
- Chocolate sauce
Make the chocolate chips:
- Open the bag of chips along the top seam.
- Fold the top down and hold it closed while you lightly crush the chips by squeezing the bag.
- Pour a little bit of chocolate sauce directly into the bag.
- Fold the top down and hold it closed while you gently shake the bag.
- Enjoy your chocolate covered potato chips with a spoon straight out of the bag.
Dessert Recipes You Can Easily Adapt for Camping
The best camping desserts are the ones that cater to your specific tastes. Take a look at your favorite desserts from home and find creative ways to make a version of those desserts while you're camping.
- Mix the caramel sauce ingredients at home, then pack the mixture in a zip-top bag to make easy caramel popcorn in a skillet over the campfire.
- Make delicious baked apples in a Dutch oven over the campfire.
- Use your camping mug or an empty orange peel to make easy mug brownies by setting the mug inside a Dutch oven to cook or trying to cook it right on top of the center of your fire.
- Try using your Dutch oven, cast iron skillet with aluminum foil cover, pie iron, or an aluminum foil packet to make these great baked banana recipes.
Indulge Yourself in Camping Desserts
For whatever reason, everything tastes better when you're camping. Maybe it's the smokey flavor or the comfortable atmosphere? While you're taking things back to basics at your campsite, enjoy some easy camping desserts that pack big flavor in a few ingredients.
