camp meals

Apple Crumble Cups

Toasted oats, dried apple mash, and vanilla milk powder, layered in a cup at camp.

calories
420
weight
3.5 oz
cal / oz
120
protein
10 g
serves
1, scales
prep
15 min
cook
5 min
total time
20 min
water
200 ml boiled
cost
$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Dessert
  • Breakfast
  • Canister stove
  • Alcohol / Esbit
  • Backpacking
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Bikepacking
  • Vegetarian
  • Nut free
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Quick-cooking rolled oats 1/2 cup toasted at home in a dry pan
Ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp
Dried apple slices 3/4 cup unsweetened, broken into pieces
Sugar 1 tsp
Whole milk powder 3 tbsp
Vanilla protein powder or vanilla pudding mix 2 tbsp either works; pudding sets thicker
Salt a pinch

Method

  1. At home, toast the oats in a dry pan over medium heat until they smell nutty and go gold. Stir constantly. Cinnamon goes in off the heat. Cool completely before bagging.
  2. In camp, put the dried apples and sugar in the pot with 200 ml of water. Bring it to a boil, then hold a low simmer about five minutes until the fruit is soft.
  3. Mash the apples against the side of the pot with your spoon. Set the pot aside to cool.
  4. Shake the milk powder, vanilla powder, and salt with 60 ml of cold water in a bottle until smooth and thick.
  5. Spoon apple, then vanilla cream, then oats into a cup. Repeat if it fits. Eat right away.

The original is a Norwegian dessert built on fresh apple sauce and vanilla quark, neither of which survives a day in a pack. Dried apples simmered in a little water rebuild the sauce, and milk powder whisked with vanilla powder and only a splash of water gives you something thick enough to spoon rather than pour.

Toast the oats at home. It is the one step that makes this worth carrying, and doing it on a canister stove wastes fuel and usually scorches. The layers are not decoration either: oats sitting in the apple go soft in minutes, so assemble in the cup and eat it standing there.

Packing

Three bags: toasted oats with cinnamon, dried apple with sugar, and the milk-plus-vanilla powder. Keep the oats sealed and separate until the last second, because any moisture at all kills the crunch.

Variations

  • Skip the layering and stir it all into one pot. It tastes the same and saves a cup.
  • Swap the milk powder for coconut milk powder and a dairy-free vanilla pudding to make it vegan.
  • Freeze-dried strawberries in place of half the apple, rehydrated the same way.

https://www.matprat.no/oppskrifter/familien/epledessert-med-havregryn-og-kesam