20 Stress-Free Easy Camping Dessert Ideas
Nothing rounds out a camping trip like a fun, easy, and delicious camping dessert. In this guide we share our favorite easy camping dessert ideas, with 20 of the best camping dessert recipes we’ve used over the years. They’re fun for all ages, and sure to be a hit on your next camping trip or outdoor adventure.
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20 Easy Camping Desserts
1. Brown Bears
This is an old staple camping dessert! Using a package of refrigerated biscuit dough, twist a biscuit around a skewer, kinda like a vine growing or snake climbing. Cook it over the fire until it turns golden brown. Then brush with some butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Yummy!
2. Melty Dessert Pops
First, melt some chocolate. Then, using wooden skewers, dip either strawberries or big marshmallows into the melted chocolate. Before it cools, dip/roll/sprinkle with desired toppings. Topping ideas: crumbled graham crackers, coconut flakes, or sprinkles (since just about every kid loves to ruin something delicious with sprinkles).
3. S’mores Nachos
Use either a cast iron pan or, for easy clean up, a disposable aluminum pan. First, layer broken up pieces of graham cracker, then top with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. Make it snazzy by adding other favorite candy too! Heat the pan over your campfire or camping stove for about 10 minutes or until everything has turned into melty goodness. Tip: You can initially heat this in an oven at home, cool in the fridge, and pack it in your cooler as a chilled dessert - so yummy!
4. Sweet Apple Sandwiches
After coring an apple, cut it into circular slices - these will be like the pieces of bread when making the sandwich. Then spread with peanut butter or chocolate hazelnut spread before adding chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit.
5. Mess-Free Rice Krispie Treats
In a reusable Silicone Storage Bag* (these are great for storing all kinds of foods while camping) combine 4 Tbsps softened butter and 2 cups of rice krispie cereal. Toast 4 jumbo marshmallows over the campfire, and add them to the bag. Gently knead the mixture together and press into a roll at the bottom of the bag. Allow to set for 20-25 minutes or so, then remove from the bag and serve!
6. Mini Edible Campfires
You’ll need 3 ingredients to make these cute camping desserts that are great for kids: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Reese’s Pieces (or red, yellow, and orange M & M’s), and pretzel sticks. Then construct little campfires with the peanut butter cup as the ground/base, the Reese’s Pieces as hot coals, and the pretzel sticks as campfire logs.
7. Camping Dessert Cookies
Okay, this is about as easy as a camping dessert can get; buy a couple packages of cookies (Oreos yum!) or bake some cookies at home beforehand to bring on your camping trip. Our family favorite is the Original Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe - try it out for your next trip!
8. Roasted Marshmallows or S'mores
Don’t forget this classic easy camping dessert! It’s fun to sit around the campfire and see how each person roasts their perfect marshmallow! Or turn it into a classic S’more with Hershey’s chocolate and graham crackers.
9. S’mores With a Twist
Trade out the traditional graham cracker for a cookie (think Oreos, chocolate chip cookies) or trade out the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate for a different candy bar (like Cookies and Cream, Kit Kat, or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups) - get creative!
10. Cinnamon Rolls
This is one of our favorites! Buy a tube of cinnamon rolls in the refrigerated aisle of the grocery store and either heat them over the fire on a skewer (similar to brown bears), or cook them up in a dutch oven or on your camp stove in a cast iron pan. We highly recommend the cast iron set that we use.
11. Tortilla Camping Dessert Roll Ups
Fill a tortilla with yummy ingredients, roll, wrap with foil, and warm over a campfire. Ingredients can be Nutella, peanut butter, caramel, chocolate chips, nuts, strawberries, marshmallows…the sky's the limit!
12. Banana Boats
Leaving the peel on, cut a slit in a banana lengthwise. Fill the middle with tasty toppings (chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, graham cracker crumbles, etc), wrap that baby up in some foil and warm it over the campfire for a few minutes (upright!). Remove from heat and serve with a spoon.
13. Camping Dessert Pizza
Naan is a great crust for camping dessert pizza! Use Nutella or Marshmallow Fluff as your spread and top with your favorite sweet toppings and fruit. Preheat both your cast iron skillet and lid, and then cover to heat dutch-oven-style for about 10 minutes over your lowest heat setting or indirect campfire heat.
14. Campfire Dessert Cones
Grab some ice cream sugar cones and fill with whatever sweet toppings you want. Are you seeing a theme with these easy camping desserts yet?! These are fun for kids to assemble themselves, buffet style. Wrap tightly with foil and heat over the campfire for 5 or 10 minutes, rotating occasionally, allowing everything to become a melty mess before enjoying.
15. Cake or Brownies in Oranges
For this easy camping dessert, cut the top off an orange, scoop the fruit out of the middle (save that as a snack for later!), and replace it with cake or brownie batter, prepared as the packaged directions say (so don’t forget the eggs or anything else needed). Fill each orange about ¾ of the way with batter before replacing the top, wrapping it tightly with foil a couple times around, and placing it upright in the campfire for about 30 or so minutes. You might want to mark which end is the top!
16. Baked Apple Slices
This is a super easy camping dessert that’s delicious and healthy too! Slice up some apples, sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon, wrap them in foil, and heat over the campfire for 10 or so minutes.
17. Camping Dessert Parfait Cups
Start with vanilla or chocolate flavored pudding cups, and add in whatever your heart desires - we recommend chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, sliced strawberries, marshmallows, and sprinkles. Mix and enjoy!
18. Walking S’mores
You’ll need prepackaged bags of cookies or teddy grahams, chocolate chips, and marshmallows for this easy camping dessert.
Start by breaking up the cookies or teddy grahams in their packaging.
Then cook the marshmallows over the fire or camping stove before tossing them in the bag, along with some chocolate chips. Mix everything together and serve with a spoon for an easy and mess-free camping dessert on the go.
19. Dessert Pudgy Pies
The Pudgy Pie is another classic camping dessert that’s easy and fun to make. Simply place two pieces of bread in your pie iron (we like the lightweight classic style pie irons like our vintage Tonka Toaster or the classic Toas-Tite pie iron*), add peanut butter, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and fruit to one side. Close the pie iron, sealing both pieces of bread together.Trim the excess bread off of the outer edge of the pie iron, and heat through using slightly indirect heat over the campfire or camping stove. So good!
20. Camping Dessert Donuts
The easy route here is to grab a bag of pre-packaged powdered donuts to enjoy as a quick and easy camping dessert. But if you’re looking for a slightly more ambitious camping dessert recipe, look no further!
To make DIY cast iron donuts, buy a can of Pillsbury biscuits. Begin by removing a hole from the center of each biscuit (a shot glass works great for this). Heat about 1” of vegetable oil in the bottom of your cast iron pan and fry the biscuits equally on both sides (depending on the amount of heat, they typically cook very quickly), and remember to flip half way through.
Once they are done to your liking, remove from the cast iron and sprinkle those bad boys with some cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar and enjoy while warm!
There you have it, 20 easy camping desserts to enjoy on your next camping trip or outdoor adventure! And if you’re hoping to balance out these sweets with some healthier options while camping, check out these 30+ Healthy Camping Snacks You Can Easily Make or Buy.
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As always, thanks for reading!
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