Camp Milo Custard Cocoa
A thick malted milk drink built from powders, poured hot before bed on a cold night.
- calories
- 260
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 118
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 350 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.
- Drink
- Dessert
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Milo malted drink powder | 200 g | about 1 1/2 cups |
|---|---|---|
| Whole milk powder | 1 1/2 cups | reconstitutes to roughly 2 liters |
| Instant custard powder | 1/2 cup | the kind that sets with sugar and milk |
| Sugar | 200 g | about 1 cup, cut it back if your custard powder is sweetened |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Water | 2 liters |
Method
- Bring about half the water to a boil in the pot, then pull it off the flame.
- Whisk in the milk powder first, on its own, until no lumps are left. This is the step people skip and regret.
- Add the Milo, custard powder, sugar, and salt. Stir until the custard powder is fully dissolved.
- Pour in the rest of the water and return the pot to low heat. Stir constantly.
- Heat until it steams and thickens slightly. Do not let it boil, or the custard starch breaks and the milk scorches on the pot bottom.
- Ladle into mugs. It thickens more as it cools.
The original called for two liters of fresh milk, which is a cooler problem nobody needs. Whole milk powder does the same job at a fraction of the weight and rides in the same bag as everything else. Everything here is a dry powder, so the whole drink becomes one premixed bag and one pot of water.
The custard powder is the reason this is worth making instead of just stirring Milo into hot water. It is cornstarch with vanilla and color, and it gives the drink body that a plain cocoa never has. The heat rule matters: starch thickens below a boil and thins out above it, and milk powder scorches fast on a thin camp pot. Keep it steaming, keep the spoon moving, take it off early.
Packing
Combine the Milo, milk powder, custard powder, sugar, and salt into one bag at home and shake it. Scoop about 3/4 cup of mix per 350 ml of water in camp.
Variations
- Half the water and you get something closer to a pudding to eat with a spoon.
- A spoonful of instant coffee per mug turns it into a malted mocha, though not before bed.
- Swap the whole milk powder for powdered coconut milk to make it dairy-free.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/kruiza-milo