6 Easy & Delicious Campfire Desserts

The perfect summer dessert is one that does not require any oven or stovetop time, making for a quick and easy cookout staple. These six recipes are the sweetest way to enjoy your campfire this season!

The “easy peasy language arts 5” is a 6-part series that will teach you how to make six delicious campfire desserts. The recipes are easy and fun to make, and they taste amazing!

As someone who enjoys camping but has a hectic schedule, I can typically only get away for a day or two at a time, so I’m constantly searching for methods to make my travels more regular and hassle-free. Part of it is simplifying my meals; rather than lugging pots and pans into the wilderness and cleaning them after each meal, I cook in foil packets or on a stick; no mess, no bother, no clean up.

That’s OK for meals, but what about the meal’s crowning glory – dessert? S’mores are an obvious and tasty option, but I’ve been wanting to expand out more recently.

So we put a variety of quick, make-ahead campfire treats to the test lately and came up with six absolute winners. There are no pots, pans, or clean-up required for these delectable sweets. Simply toss them in the fire and enjoy.

If you’re looking to spice up your s’mores routine, try one of these recipes on your next camping trip.

Preparation and Cooking Notes

All of these meals may be prepared ahead of time and carried along with you on your trip.
Nearly all campfire food is best cooked on a beautiful bed of coals rather than straight in the flames (shoot for at least 2 inches of them).
Always spray the surface on which you’re going to set your meal with cooking spray when creating anything in a foil packet so that the food doesn’t cling after it’s cooked.
To prevent puncturing, use heavy-duty foil. To be on the safe side, I suggest using two sheets, since it seems to reduce charring.
The majority of these recipes have purposefully ambiguous ingredient measurements. When I make campfire grub, I don’t measure anything precisely. With a little of this and a little of there, you’ll be golden. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Cooking times are also estimates; they may vary depending on how hot your coals are. Check on your meal from time to time to check how it’s going; if it’s not done, re-crimp the foil and return it to the coals. Use an oven mitt, gloves, or tongs to handle the hot packets, and keep an eye out for steam.

Finally, although none of these campfire sweets will win any beauty competitions (campfire cookery seldom does), they are all guaranteed tasty, regardless of aesthetics.

Upside-Down Pineapple Donut

If you like pineapple upside-cake, you’ll like this simple campfire version of the dessert.

Ingredients:

Donuts made with plain cake
Pineapple rings in a can
Brown sugar is a kind of sugar that is used
“Butter” should be squeezed.

Instructions:

Cut a doughnut in half (through the ring, so you get two Os instead of four Cs). On the bottom of one side of the doughnut, place a pineapple ring. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top. Squeeze a line of butter around the ring with your fingers. To make a pineapple donut “sandwich,” place the second half of the doughnut on top. Place the doughnut on a foil sheet. Bring the foil’s long sides to the middle and fold them together until the foil is flat next to the doughnut; then roll up the shorter sides securely.

Place on the embers of a campfire and cook for 5-8 minutes, or until the doughnut and pineapple are well toasted. If you don’t turn it halfway through, the bottom will burn.

Crispy Apples from a Campfire

This classic oven-baked dessert may also be eaten outside. Cooking With Jax provided the recipe for this one. It feeds 2 to 3 people.

Ingredients:

12 cup oats, old-fashioned
6 tablespoons flour
3 tbsp brown sugar, packed
14 cup sugar, granulated
14 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
3 apples
2 tablespoons butter
lemon juice squeezed (you can sprinkle this on the apple slices, but we left it out just to have one less thing to worry about)

Instructions:

Combine the oats, flour, sugar, and spices in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and continue to cut until the mixture is crumbly. Cut the apples into slices and arrange them on a double-layered sheet of foil coated with frying oil. Cover with a layer of oats. Spray one side of another sheet of foil the same size as the bottom one with cooking oil and set it on top of the apples/oats, spray-side down. Along the perimeter of the foil rectangle, crimp/crease the edges of the bottom and top sheets of foil together.

Cook for 20-30 minutes over coals.

Cobbler-in-a-Can

Cobbler cooked in a Dutch oven is a classic campfire dish. If you don’t have a Dutch oven or don’t want to carry one with you on a vacation, you may create cobbler from a can of fruit or pie filling. Because most cans are coated with BPA, I expect some people will be horrified by this concept (the toxicology of which is debatable). It’s hard to believe that a once-a-year intake of such a campfire treat could kill you, but if you’re concerned, avoid this one, as well as the Chow for Puppies dish. Alternatively, look for a BPA-free can.

Ingredients:

Fruit with thick syrup or pie filling (we used dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup)
Bisquick

12 cup Bisquick + 114 cup Bisquick = 114 cup Bisquick + 12 cup milk = 114 cup Bisquick + 12 cup milk = 114 This will produce enough batter to fill two smaller cans with one giant “cookie,” or if you have a bigger can, you can fill it with all of the batter. Drain any extra syrup from the fruit/filling can. Place the fruit on top of the biscuit batter. Remove the cover and replace it.

Cook over hot coals until the batter has hardened into dumplings.

Boats made of bananas

This is an ancient campfire classic that children really appreciate.

Ingredients:

Bananas
Marshmallows in miniature
Chips of chocolate

Traditional banana boat stuffings include marshmallows and chocolate chips, although there are many variants. Golden grahams, crumbled graham crackers, peanut butter chips, almonds, and other similar items may be used.

Instructions:

On the flat, concave side of the banana, slice it lengthwise through the peel. Allow the knife to pierce the fruit, but avoid slicing through the opposite side’s skin. Fill the crevasse/pocket with marshmallows, chocolate chips, or anything else you choose. To build a “boat,” wrap and crimp foil around the banana.

Cook for 5-8 minutes on the fire, until the marshmallows and chips have melted. Remove the banana and toppings from the wrapper using a spoon.

Puppy Chow

Puppy chow is a Chex snack mix that’s been adapted for a campfire treat without the powdered sugar.

Ingredients:

Whether it’s peanut butter or peanut butter chips, there’s something for everyone.
Chips of chocolate
Chex cereal is a kind of cereal that comes in

Instructions:

Make a peanut butter and chocolate chip sandwich in an empty, clean aluminum can. Allow ingredients to melt on the embers. Stir with some Chex cereal after the PB and chips have melted. It may also be used as a graham cracker dip.

Cupcakes with Orange Peel

Cupcakes baked over an open fire – no need for muffin pans or an oven. Making cupcakes in an orange is not only entertaining, but also tasty; they were at the top of everyone’s to-do list. The orange peel gives the baked goods a delicate orange taste, and the same procedure can be used to produce muffins, brownies, and even cinnamon buns.

Ingredients:

Oranges
Cupcake/cake batter

Instructions:

Follow the package directions for making the cake batter. Slice an orange about 34% of the way through. Scoop out the pulp, leaving a hollow “bowl” in its place. (You may consume the pulp afterwards or make orange juice with it.) Fill the hollowed-out orange halfway with cake batter, stopping just shy of the lip. Replace the top and carefully cover the whole orange with foil.

Cook for 20-25 minutes on the embers, or until the batter is fully cooked. To achieve consistent baking, rotate the orange many times while it bakes.

Watch This Video-

The “six easy pieces chapters” is a blog post that discusses six easy and delicious campfire desserts. The author gives tips on how to make the recipes, as well as some helpful hints for camping.