Foil Biscuit and Jam Pockets
Biscuit mix, a foil pouch, and a tea candle. Bread cooked over almost no heat.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 123
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 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.
- Breakfast
- Snack
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Just-add-water biscuit mix | 1 cup | the kind with shortening already in it |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered whole milk | 2 tbsp | optional, mixed into the dry biscuit mix at home |
| Jelly or jam | 2 tbsp | squeeze packets or a small screw-top tube |
| Water | about 1/4 cup | |
| Heavy-duty aluminum foil | 2 sheets, roughly 12 in each |
Method
- Pour a little water into the bag of biscuit mix and knead the bag until you have a stiff dough. Add water a splash at a time. Too wet and it will not hold a pocket.
- Tear off a sheet of foil and press half the dough into a flat oval on it, about a quarter inch thick.
- Spoon the jelly down the center, fold the dough over it, and pinch the edge shut.
- Wrap the pocket loosely in the foil, then wrap that bundle in a second sheet. The air gap between layers is what keeps the bottom from scorching.
- Set the bundle on a low flame: a tea candle or alcohol stove under a foil tent, a canister stove at its lowest setting, or the edge of a fire's coals. Give it about 15 minutes, turning once halfway.
- Open a corner and check. The outside should be dry and firm and spring back. If the middle is still wet, close it up and give it five more minutes.
This started as a Scout patrol exercise: build an oven out of foil and bake biscuits over a tea candle. That constraint is the useful part. A candle or a small alcohol burner puts out very little heat, so the recipe has to survive slow, uneven cooking. Doubled foil with air between the layers does the work of an oven wall — it spreads the heat and stops one hot spot from burning a hole through the bottom before the center sets.
The dough is stiffer than what you would make at home, closer to a shortcrust than a drop biscuit. That is deliberate. A wet dough slumps in foil and steams into paste. Powdered milk stands in for the fresh milk the original called for, and it goes into the mix at home so camp is just water and hands.
Packing
Premix the biscuit mix and milk powder into a quart freezer bag at home. That bag doubles as the mixing bowl, so nothing else gets doughy. Fold the foil flat against the back panel of the pack.
Variations
- Cinnamon and sugar in the dry mix instead of jelly, for something closer to a scone.
- Skip the milk powder for a dairy-free version. The dough is slightly less tender and nobody will notice.
- Press the dough thin and cook it flat as a biscuit round if you do not want to deal with sealing an edge.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/activity/micro_cooking-1911.asp