Skillet Cinnamon Roll Scramble
Cinnamon roll flavor without yeast, an oven, or a proof. Torn biscuit pieces fried in butter with cinnamon sugar and a powdered cream cheese glaze.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 9 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 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.
- Breakfast
- Dessert
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Baking mix | 2 cups | self-rising pancake or biscuit mix, the kind that needs only water |
|---|---|---|
| Water | about 3/4 cup | cold, enough for a stiff dough |
| Butter | 4 tbsp | one stick keeps a few days unrefrigerated in cool weather; ghee keeps longer |
| Brown sugar | 1/2 cup | packed |
| Ground cinnamon | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Powdered sugar | 3/4 cup | |
| Powdered cream cheese | 3 tbsp | dry cheesecake mix works too |
| Powdered milk | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Stir the baking mix with water a little at a time until you have a stiff, shaggy dough. Do not knead it smooth.
- Melt the butter in a skillet over low coals or a low flame. Keep it under a hard sizzle or the sugar burns.
- Tear the dough into thumb-sized pieces and drop them into the butter. Turn them every couple of minutes.
- When the pieces are browned and dry in the middle, about 10 to 12 minutes, pull the pan off the heat and pour the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt over them. Stir until the sugar melts into a syrup on the hot pan.
- In a mug, whisk the powdered sugar, cream cheese powder, and milk powder with two or three tablespoons of cold water. Add water by the teaspoon at the end. It thickens as it sits.
- Pour the glaze over the pan and eat straight out of it.
The original is a yeasted overnight dough baked in a pan, which is three things the trail does not have: a proof, an oven, and refrigeration. What survives the trip is the part that matters — dough, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a cream cheese glaze on top. Chemically leavened baking mix replaces the yeast dough, and tearing it into pieces means every piece cooks through in a skillet instead of relying on oven heat reaching the middle of a coil.
The order of operations is the whole recipe. Sugar goes in after the dough is cooked and the pan is off the heat, because brown sugar in a hot dry pan scorches long before dough is done. The glaze is powdered sugar, cream cheese powder, and milk powder mixed cold in a mug, so nothing perishable rides along and there is one pan to clean.
Packing
Bag the baking mix alone. Bag the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together. Bag the powdered sugar, cream cheese powder, and milk powder together as the glaze. Butter goes in a screw-top jar.
Variations
- Add 1/4 cup raisins or chopped dried apple with the cinnamon sugar.
- No cream cheese powder: powdered sugar and milk powder alone make a plain white glaze.
- Dutch oven version: drop the dough pieces in the sugar and butter and bake with coals on the lid for 20 minutes.
https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/go-to-cinnamon-rolls