Camp Cocoa Bark with Cookie Crumble
Chocolate slab pressed with crushed cookies and mint candies, made at home and broken into pieces for the pack.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 150
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- none
- 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
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Day hike
- Winter / snow
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Milk chocolate chips | 4 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Coconut oil or shortening | 2 tbsp | replaces butter so it stays shelf-stable |
| Mint candy-coated chocolates | 7 oz package | |
| Red velvet sandwich cookies | 8 cookies | |
| Salt | a pinch | optional, cuts the sweetness |
Method
- At home: drop the cookies in a freezer bag and crush them with the flat of a pot until they are gravel, not dust.
- Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. A microwave in 30-second bursts works too.
- Stir the coconut oil and salt into the melted chocolate.
- Pour onto a foil-lined sheet pan and spread to about a quarter inch with the back of a spoon.
- Scatter the cookie pieces and mint candies across the top and press them in so they set into the slab, not on it.
- Chill until hard, then break into roughly two-ounce pieces.
- On the trail: eat it straight from the bag. No water, no stove.
This is a home-kitchen bark reworked into a carry item. The original used butter, which goes rancid in a pack, so coconut oil takes its place. It thins the chocolate the same way and sets firmer at room temperature.
The cookies and candy have to be pressed into the chocolate before it sets, or they shear off in the bag and you carry crumbs. Quarter-inch thickness is the compromise: thin enough to snap cleanly, thick enough to survive a day of being sat on. Cold weather is where this shines. Warm weather is where it becomes a mess.
Packing
Layer the broken pieces between squares of parchment in a hard-sided container or a wide-mouth jar. Loose in a soft bag they grind into shards. Above about 80 F the slab softens and the candy shells bleed color, so pack it deep in the bag or save it for cold trips.
Variations
- Dark chocolate chips instead of milk holds up better in warm weather and is less cloying after a long day.
- Swap the mint candies for freeze-dried raspberries and crushed pretzels.
- Add 1/2 cup of toasted pumpkin seeds for a little salt and crunch that is not sugar.
https://www.thisisnotdietfood.com/christmas-bark-with-red-velvet-cook