Blackberry Marmalade Skillet Tart
A two-person camp tart built on dried blackberries, marmalade, and a crust you mix in the bag.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 116
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- 60 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Dairy free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 1 cup | premixed with the salt and shortening at home |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered vegetable shortening | 1/3 cup | shelf-stable, no cooler needed |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Cold water | 3-4 tbsp | |
| Dried blackberries | 3/4 cup | freeze-dried works, rehydrate less |
| Orange marmalade | 3 tbsp | single-serve packets travel cleanest |
| Sugar | 3 tbsp | 2 tbsp for the fruit, 1 tbsp for the nuts |
| Shelled pistachios | 1/2 cup | unsalted |
| Orange drink crystals | 1 tsp | stands in for fresh juice |
Method
- Toss the pistachios with 1 tbsp sugar, a pinch of salt, and 1 tbsp water mixed with the orange crystals. Toast them dry in the skillet over low coals for four or five minutes, stirring. Tip them onto a plate to harden.
- Cover the dried blackberries with just enough water to wet them. Let them sit ten minutes, then drain off anything that pools.
- Add cold water to the crust mix a spoonful at a time until it holds together. Do not knead it.
- Press the dough straight into the bottom and up the sides of a 8-inch cast iron skillet with your fingers. No rolling pin in camp.
- Spread the marmalade over the crust, pile in the berries, and scatter the remaining 2 tbsp sugar on top.
- Set the skillet on a bed of coals with more coals on the lid. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust edge is browned and the fruit is bubbling.
- Pull it off the heat, top with the candied pistachios, and let it sit ten minutes before cutting. Hot fruit filling burns.
The original is a home-kitchen tart with a rolled crust, fresh berries, and an egg wash. None of that survives a trip. Powdered shortening replaces cold butter, so the crust mix rides in a bag at ambient temperature and comes together with cold water. Dried berries replace fresh ones, and the marmalade does double duty: it is sugar, acid, and the moisture the dried fruit needs to plump back up.
The egg wash is gone because carrying an egg for one brushstroke is not worth it. The crust browns fine without it under a lid of coals. Press the dough in rather than rolling it out; a pressed crust is thicker and less fussy, and it holds fruit that is heavier and wetter than what the recipe was designed for.
Packing
Combine flour, powdered shortening, and salt in one zip bag at home; that is the whole crust. Berries, sugar, and pistachios each get their own small bag. Marmalade packets go in a corner where they will not get punctured.
Variations
- Dried cherries or chopped dried apricot instead of blackberries.
- Skip the pistachio step entirely and eat it plain if you are short on fuel.
- No skillet: build it as a free-form galette on foil over a grill grate and fold the edges in.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/blackberry-orange-tart-for-two