camp meals

Skillet Apple Marzipan Tacos

Tortillas crisped in butter, hot cinnamon apples, grated marzipan melted through.

calories
520
weight
5.5 oz
cal / oz
95
protein
5 g
serves
4, scales
prep
5 min
cook
15 min
total time
20 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
  • Campfire coals
  • Canister stove
  • Liquid fuel
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Canoe / raft
  • Vegetarian
  • One pot
  • Grab and go
  • Needs a cooler
  • Basic

Ingredients

Small flour tortillas 4
Apples 2 firm ones; they hold their shape in the pan
Butter 100 g keeps a few days out of a cooler in cool weather
Granulated sugar 2 tbsp
Ground cinnamon 4 tsp
Marzipan 100 g almond paste; leave it out for a nut allergy
Salt a pinch
Vanilla ice cream or custard 3/4 cup packed in a chilled food thermos

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a skillet over a moderate flame. Not screaming hot or the sugar burns later.
  2. Lay a tortilla in the butter, fold it in half, and hold the fold with a spatula. Cook both sides until it stiffens into a shell.
  3. Mix the sugar and cinnamon on a plate. Turn each hot shell in it and set the shells aside to firm up.
  4. Dice the apples. Drop them into the butter left in the pan with the remaining sugar, cinnamon, and the salt. Fry until the pieces give under a spoon.
  5. Grate or crumble the marzipan into the pan and cook another minute, stirring, until it melts into the apples.
  6. Spoon the filling into the shells and top with the ice cream or custard.

This is apple pie with the pastry problem solved. A flour tortilla folded in hot butter stiffens into a shell in about two minutes, which is the only structural work a camp dessert should ask of you. Roll it in cinnamon sugar while it is still greasy and the coating sticks on its own.

The marzipan is the part worth carrying. Grated into the pan at the end, it melts into the apples and turns a thin fruit filling into something with body and fat behind it, so four people get a real dessert out of two apples. It is almond paste, so leave it out if anyone at the table is allergic. Butter, apples, and marzipan all need a cooler, which makes this a car-camping or basecamp dish rather than a backpacking one.

Packing

Butter, apples, and marzipan go in the cooler. Sugar and cinnamon travel premixed in one small jar so you are not measuring spice over a fire. Scoop the ice cream into a pre-chilled food thermos at home; it holds a few hours.

Variations

  • Drizzle salted caramel sauce over the top before serving.
  • Skip the marzipan entirely for a nut allergy. Add another half apple to make up the volume.
  • Dried apple rehydrated in a splash of water works if you are carrying no cooler.

https://primusequipment.com/blogs/recipes/apple-tacos-with-marzipan