Campfire Cones – Even Better Than S’mores

My family is a group of dessert junkies. It’s a running joke that my husband can take any sweet thing and make it better. We call him The Dessert Connoisseur. Needless to say, I’m always on the lookout for something great to try out. A few years back, when I was tasked with planning dessert for one of our Girl Scout camping weekends, I went looking on Pinterest for something new to try. And I discovered the Campfire Cone.

I grew up on the tried-and-true S’more. No camping trip as a kid was complete without them. And I still absolutely adore them. But imagine taking a S’more and making it bigger, somewhat self-contained, and adding more good stuff. That’s sort of the gist of a Campfire Cone. And I gotta tell you – I’ve never had anyone tell me they didn’t like one of these babies better than a S’more.

We’ve made this dessert on the grill in our backyard and on a campfire while camping. The true beauty of them is each person can customize theirs exactly how they want it. There is no end to the wonderful things you can throw in your cone. The other awesome thing is that each time you make them – it’s a new and different treat.

Let’s walk through the basic how-to for making one.

What You’ll Need

• Waffle cones
• Mini-marshmallows (big ones work, but the mini variety melt a little easier)
• Chocolate chips (milk, dark, semi-sweet, white, butterscotch, mint, etc)
• Foil (enough to wrap each cone up individually)
• Hot pads or tongs
• Grill or hot coals from a campfire

Suggested additions:

• Fruit of any variety (strawberries, blueberries, banana slices, maraschino cherries, raspberries, and kiwi slices have gone over very well in the past)
• Candy of any variety (Rolos, Milk Duds, Whoppers, Candy corns, Goobers, Snickers Minis, Milky Way Minis, Peanut Butter Cups, caramels – pretty much anything that can melt works great)
• Nuts of any variety (peanuts, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts are all awesome choices)
• Sprinkles
• Whipped Cream (if you’re doing this early in your trip and cooler space isn’t too tight – bring a can of whipped cream)

Below are some shots of what we used here at home to build them for the grill.

 

 

Step 1 – Assemble Your Cones

This step is as easy as taking a waffle cone and stuffing it to the brim with anything and everything you want to eat all melted together. Everyone can customize their own cone with whatever you’ve got on hand. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want as far as what to include in your cone.

You know how when you go to those ice cream shops where you pick an ice cream and various toppings they have “recipes” you can follow? I think the same thing works well here.

The Turtle

Mini-marshmallows
Rolos
Walnuts or Pecans

Tooty Fruity

Mini-marshmallows
Chocolate chips
Strawberry slices
Banana slices
Raspberries
Blueberries

Peanut Butter Banana Bumpkin

Mini-marshmallows
Banana slices
Peanut butter cups

The Graveyard

Every single ingredient you brought along – throw it in there!

Step 2 – Heat the Cones Up Until Melting Occurs

Next, you wrap each individual cone in enough foil to cover it completely. If you want to make sure that the cone you built is yours when it’s pulled out of the fire – bring along a permanent marker and label the foil with initials. I learned this the hard way with a Girl Scout troop and a kiddo with nut allergies.

Here they are on the propane grill here at home…we start them off on high heat for a few minutes, then turn the grill off, shut the lid, and let them continue melting for a bit (approximately 5 minutes.) You don’t want them to go too long because the chocolate will burn (and nobody wants burned chocolate!) If you’re not sure if they’re done or not – simply pull one off and take a peek. They’re easy to rewrap if they need additional time to heat up.

For heating these guys up in a campfire, your best bet is to wait until you have some lovely hot coals. A young fire with lots of big flames doesn’t melt these very well at all. Once you have those hot coals, push the foil packets right down into the coals and let them heat up.

Once everything has melted and warmed up, you get a lovely S’mores-like sundae. Most things melt pretty well – the orange/yellow bits below are candy corns (which usually are a huge hit with kids.) If you brought whipped cream, squirt a little on top before you dig in.

Also, be careful when you’re first unwrapping these treats – they’ll be very hot. If you’re making this dessert with kids or a scout troop – having wet wipes or a place to clean your hands is a good idea. Okay – who am I kidding? Even grown-ups will need to wash their hands after eating one of these babies. They’re a deliciously amazing mess!

Guest Post by Robin Laulainen. Robin writes about camping and other outdoorsy stuff at Trek Southwest, pets every dog she meets, and drinks more coffee than she should. She blogs about her other passion - creating - at Make It Yourself Girl.

 

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