Brownie Oat Trail Balls
Brownie mix plus oats, mixed with cold water into a stiff dough you eat by the handful.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 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
- Snack
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Day hike
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Boxed brownie mix | 1 package (about 18 oz) | dry mix only, ignore the box directions |
|---|---|---|
| Rolled oats | 1 to 3 cups | add until the dough stops running |
| Cold water | about 1/4 cup | add a splash at a time |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Pour the brownie mix and one cup of oats into a heavy freezer bag.
- Add water a tablespoon at a time, working the bag with your hands between additions. Stop while it is still stiff.
- If it turns loose, add more oats until it holds a shape. That is the whole adjustment.
- Squeeze off balls straight from the bag and eat them, or press the dough flat and tear off pieces.
This is raw dough as a food group. Brownie mix is already sugar, cocoa, and flour in the right ratio, so it needs nothing but water to become something edible. The oats are structural: they soak up the free water and turn a batter into a dough you can hold. Without them you have a bag of chocolate slurry.
Add water slowly. Too much and the only fix is more oats, which stretches the batch into something bland. Commercial brownie mix is heat-treated flour in most current boxes, but check yours, and if raw flour concerns you, toast the mix in a dry pan at home before packing. Nothing here spoils, so leftovers ride in the bag until they are gone.
Packing
Dump the mix and oats into one gallon freezer bag at home and throw the box away. The bag is the mixing bowl, so buy the thick kind.
Variations
- Powdered peanut butter in place of a half cup of the oats, if nuts are not a problem for your group.
- Instant coffee stirred into the dry mix cuts the sweetness.
- Dried cherries or chocolate chips folded in at the end.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/poo-balls