Cinnamon Toast on the Fire
Sugar, cinnamon, and shelf-stable butter on bread, crisped over coals.
- calories
- 230
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 105
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 4 min
- total time
- 6 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.
- Breakfast
- Dessert
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Sturdy sandwich bread | 1 slice | a dense loaf holds up; soft white collapses |
|---|---|---|
| Ghee or canned butter | 1 tbsp | no refrigeration, unlike a stick |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Ground cinnamon | 1 tsp | the original tablespoon is overwhelming |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Stir the sugar, cinnamon, salt, and softened ghee together in a mug or the corner of a bag until it is a paste.
- Spread it across one side of the bread, edge to edge. Bare edges burn first.
- Set the slice coated side up on a square of foil on the grill grate, over coals rather than flame.
- Give it three or four minutes. It is done when the coating stops looking wet and starts to bubble.
- Lift the foil off the heat and wait a minute. Molten sugar burns mouths.
This started as a toaster-oven recipe, which is not a piece of gear anyone carries. The fix is foil on a grill grate over coals, which does the same job: dry heat from below, no pan to scrub. Coals, not flame — sugar scorches fast and a flare-up takes the slice with it.
The butter is the other change. A stick needs a cooler, so ghee or canned butter does the work instead and keeps for weeks in a jar. Cutting the cinnamon back to a teaspoon matters too; a full tablespoon against one slice of bread is dry and bitter, and the sugar cannot cover for it.
Packing
Premix the sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bag at home. Ghee travels in a screw-top jar, bread in a hard container or it arrives as crumbs.
Variations
- Fold the foil into a closed packet and the bread steams soft instead of crisping.
- Swap the sugar for brown sugar and a splash of maple syrup for something closer to a dessert.
- Two slices pressed together over the coals makes a cinnamon sandwich that travels in a pocket.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/cinnamon-bread