Oh goodness! My ‘good mornings’ and this winter have just flown by! With such a busy winter, time and this post have gotten away from me. Thankfully, even though outside looks like my welcome sign- this post from last fall is a welcome reminder that camping weather and camp cooking will return soon!
Good morning, morning (again!)! I am so excited! After 3 days of indecision- ‘it is going to rain all Friday and thunderstorm Saturday afternoon’ ‘rain only Friday afternoon and evening’ ‘scattered showers for Saturday morning’.
We finally decided Friday morning to not go camping.
Then mid morning on Friday, I get a text from the husband at work ‘let’s go camping, let’s try to leave at 4:00.’
Ok. This is do-able.
The garden tomatoes can go into the freezer instead of mason jars and the camper is always almost ready.
Thanks to Camping Hints, a last minute camping weekend does not make me hectic! It makes me happy!
Woo-whoo! I’m sooo glad we went camping!
It didn’t rain until after midnight on Friday and only misted early-early on Saturday and Sunday mornings! The temperatures were 60s-70s, not 90s, it was a beautiful weekend! And I got to experiment over the campfire! How fun!
I tried 2 variations of the Rhubarb-Cream Cheese Pie Irons: another rhubarb one and a spiced cranberry-apple one, but both were in tortillas instead of bread.
Unfortunately, as much as I love rhubarb, the new dessert still didn’t turn out.
The thinner rhubarb sauce had made the dessert pie iron with a bread crust soggy. This next attempt didn’t turn out any better.
I tried a tortilla crust, but the rhubarb sauce was too thin for it too. It was very runny and messy to eat. If I make a thick rhubarb jam next year, I will try another tortilla dessert pie iron.
Thankfully, the Spiced Cranberry Dessert Pie Iron worked great!
The spiced cranberry apple jam is tart, like the rhubarb sauce, but much thicker. The recipe is from the Ball Canning cookbook and this was the first time I’ve made it. With cinnamon, cloves and allspice flavors, it is sooo yummy on English muffin bread- and also in Dessert Pie Irons!
Spiced Cranberry Dessert Pie Iron, for each pie iron
2-3 Tablespoons cranberry jam
1-2 Tablespoons cream cheese
1 medium-sized tortillas
oil
Center tortilla on one half of the pie iron cooker, sometimes I oil the pie iron but not always- I have not had one stick yet.
Dot 1-2 Tablespoons of cold cream cheese on the tortilla center, add the jam. The sandwich should be full, so the tortilla has good contact with the pie irons and gets golden brown. But not so full it won’t shut easily.
Then cook on both sides over the fire until golden brown and crispy. I check them after a few minutes, and then flip and cook the other side when the first side is golden brown.
If the edges stick, a knife or fork can be used to loosen them. Cooking time is about 5 minutes, but it depends on the heat of the fire and how hungry or patient you are. Sometimes, I set them over the coals and other times, I will set them right in the flames
Of course, this is why we have mostly cast iron pie irons, I am usually impatient and set them right in the flames. I have wrecked all our Teflon ones with the high heat. The cast iron ones are heavier but more durable. The weight is fine though, because we usually rest them on the fire grate or the edge of the fire ring when we cook.
Once both sides are golden brown, flip them out of the pie irons onto a plate to cool. Waiting to eat is the hardest part of pie iron cooking- but the yummy, gooey filling will be smoking hot! I’m not good at waiting, so mine was hot, but also soooo delicious! The cream cheese and thick, tart cranberry jam was a great filling for a dessert pie iron!
After 3 days of indecision due to weather, I’m so glad we went last minute camping. We enjoyed a great weekend!
We also finally enjoyed a great dessert pie iron- Spiced Cranberry Dessert Pie Irons!
Happy Camping (or enjoying jam!)
Frugal Campasaurus