The Children’s Book Review | April 13, 2017
Family camping (or glamping, if you prefer) in the great outdoors is a wonderful experience. There’s nothing quite like dinner by the campfire with your family. THE OUTDOOR ADVENTURE COOKBOOK: The Official Cookbook from America’s Camping Authority (Oxmoor House, April 11, 2017, $22.99) by Coleman offers 100 delicious campsite recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert and more.
Leave the canned beans and simple sandwiches at home. With THE OUTDOOR ADVENTURE COOKBOOK, you’ll dazzle your fellow campers with dishes like Good Morning Cheddar Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy (P. 32); Southwest Chilaquiles Skillet Breakfast (P. 38); Mustard and Brown Sugar-Glazed Steamed Salmon (P. 176); Garlic-Marinated Strip Steak (P. 183); Cast-Iron Skillet Gnocchi with Pesto (P. 193); S’mores Cookie Cake (P. 238) and much, much more!
Here’s a sample recipe to get you started …
S’MORES COOKIE CAKE
Hands-on: 10 minutes | Total: 1 hour, 20 minutes | Serves 10
This giant cookie is a sweet, indulgent treat that tastes like a traditional campfire s’more. The cookie base is soft and gooey when warm, but firms up after cooling. Bonus: Little kids will be spared a scorched marshmallow or burned fingers.
Ingredients
6 graham cracker sheets, divided
1 (17.5-ounce) package sugar cookie mix
4 ounces (1⁄2 cup) salted butter, softened
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 (12-ounce) package milk chocolate chips
3 cups miniature marshmallows
Steps
- Heat a camping stove to medium (about 350° to 375°F), or fit a grilling grate over the direct heat of glowing embers. Tear or cut 8 (12-inch) squares of aluminum foil. Crumple each foil square into a 2-inch ball. Flatten each slightly, and arrange on bottom of a 71⁄2-quart cast-iron Dutch oven. Cover with the lid, and preheat on the camping stove or grilling grate directly over the heat source 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low (about 300° to 325°F).
- Line the bottom and sides of a 9- x 2-inch round cake pan with 2 layers of aluminum foil, allowing the foil to extend about 1 inch above the rim of the cake pan. Fold the edges of the foil down to create an even 1⁄2-inch collar above the rim of the pan. Coat the foil with cooking spray.
- Finely crush 4 graham crackers in a ziplock plastic freezer bag. Stir together the crushed graham crackers, cookie mix, butter, and egg until a soft dough forms. Press the dough into the prepared cake pan. Using tongs, lower the pan onto the foil balls in the Dutch oven. Cover and cook on the camping stove over medium-low until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges are golden, about 1 hour. Remove the Dutch oven from the heat.
- Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top of the cookie in the Dutch oven; top evenly with the marshmallows. Cover with the lid, and let stand 10 minutes or until the chocolate melts and the marshmallows slightly soften. Coarsely crush the remaining 2 graham crackers, and sprinkle over the marshmallows. Lift the cookie out of cake pan using the foil collar as handles; cut into 10 wedges.
Getting Geared Up
With a Dutch oven and a roll of aluminum foil, you can make baked desserts you might not think would be doable on a camping trip. A 7½-quart cast-iron Dutch oven with a snug-fitting lid—Coleman makes one—is the most versatile.
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Excerpted from Coleman The Outdoor Adventure Cookbook by Coleman. Copyright © 2017 Oxmoor House. Reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Time Inc. New York, NY. All rights reserved.
