Pumpkin Spice Camp Pudding
Instant pudding, canned pumpkin, and fall spice. No baking, no fire, no bowl.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 105
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- 180 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
- No cook
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant vanilla pudding mix | 1 small box (3.4 oz) | instant, not cook-and-serve |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered whole milk | 1/2 cup | |
| Canned pumpkin puree | 1 cup | a small can, or dried pumpkin powder rehydrated |
| Pumpkin pie spice | 1 tsp | |
| Brown sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Crushed graham crackers or gingersnaps | 1/2 cup | |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Dump the pudding mix, milk powder, spice, sugar, and salt into a quart freezer bag.
- Add 180 ml of cold water. Seal most of the way, push the air out, then close it.
- Squeeze and knead the bag for a minute until there are no dry pockets left.
- Work in the pumpkin puree. It will fight you for about thirty seconds, then go smooth.
- Let it sit five minutes to set. Stir the crushed cookies in last so they stay crisp, or scatter them on top.
This started as a stack of pumpkin cheesecakes and spice cakes, none of which survive contact with a backpack. What does survive is the part that makes those desserts work: pumpkin puree, warm spice, and something creamy to suspend it in. Instant pudding does the suspending without an oven or a fridge.
Instant pudding sets by chemistry, not cold, so it firms up at any camp temperature. The milk powder matters — pudding mixed with plain water is thin and tastes like nothing. Canned pumpkin is heavy at roughly seven ounces, which is why the dried-powder swap is listed; on a car-camping trip the can is fine.
Packing
Pudding mix, milk powder, spice, sugar, and salt premixed in one bag at home. Cookies crushed in a second bag. Pumpkin rides in its can, or as powder in a third bag.
Variations
- Swap the pumpkin for a foil pouch of applesauce if you do not want to carry a can.
- Dried pumpkin powder cuts about six ounces of carried weight and needs another 100 ml of water.
- A handful of chocolate chips stirred in at the end holds shape better than it sounds.
https://zenandhoney.com/pumpkin-spice-desserts