CHILDREN’S GARDEN

Campfire Stick Biscuits with Raspberry Jam

BECCA MILLER

SUMMER ON OUR MOUNTAIN campus is a time for long days playing outside, paddling on Round Lake, and working together to care for our farm animals and gardens. At the end of those sun-filled days campers often gather around a campfire with sticks and dough to whip up one of Camp Treetops’ longtime favorite snacks—stick biscuits.

Crispy and golden brown, warm and buttery, stick biscuits are a crowd pleaser that fills the air with the scent of fresh-baked bread. Stick biscuits can be eaten on their own, as a savory treat filled with cheese or a hotdog, or paired with jam made with berries harvested from the field.

The stick biscuit recipe below has been enjoyed by CTT campers and counselors on warm summer evenings for more than 50 years. Pair the warm biscuits with the raspberry jam below, or use the same recipe basics to make your own mixed-berry jam that can include strawberries, blueberries, currants, or whatever fruit is available in your garden.

Campfire Stick Biscuit Recipe

*Recipe adapted and scaled down from Camp Treetops’ Bob Bliss’s Canoe Trip Cookery Book

Bob Bliss joined the CTT community as a camper in the 1920s and continued working summers as camp staff until the early 1990s. As the Head of the Waterfront, Bob led countless canoe trips and prepared tasty campfire recipes for generations of happy CTT campers.

Makes approximately 8 stick biscuits

Ingredients

½ cup dried milk

4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1¾ tbsp baking powder

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup neutral cooking oil (canola or sunflower) OR melted butter, plus a little extra for coating the stick

Water

Mix together dry ingredients. In a large bowl, alternately add dry-ingredient mixture by the half-cup and water by the ¼-cup, adjusting as you go to maintain a firm but sticky consistency.

Make sure to reserve a bit of dry mixture until the end in case your dough is too wet.

While the dough is being prepared, have campers find a large stick (preferably green as opposed to dry wood) and shave the end so that it is roughly the thickness of an adult thumb or slightly larger. The thicker the stick, the faster the cooking time and the more butter, honey, cream cheese, jam, etc. can be packed into the vacant hole after the dough becomes “breadstuff.” If you would like to use your stick biscuit to make “pigs in blankets,” choose a cooking stick that leaves a gap the size of a cooked hot dog.

Coat the cooking end of the stick with a little bit of oil and wrap a handful of dough around that end of the stick. Cook over the campfire by turning your stick slowly as dough begins to brown. This will ensure an even bake. A fire of coals is much better than a flaming fire for slow cooking. Your biscuit is done when you get a hollow sound when you tap it with your fingers. Your finished biscuit should be about the consistency of a bagel.

Remove the biscuit from the stick and serve with your prefered filling.

Raspberry Jam Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups raspberries

2 cups sugar

Combine sugar and raspberries in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Mash the berries with the back of a spoon as they soften, leaving some larger pieces intact. Lower heat slightly but keep the berries at a medium boil, stirring frequently. Continue cooking until the jam forms a sheet of gel on a cool spoon or plate. (If you swipe your finger through the gelled jam the line’s edges should remain intact.) Once the gel has set, remove from heat.

Allow the jam to cool slightly. Serve the warm jam as a dip or filling for your stick biscuits, or ladle the jam into a sterilized pint jar and store in the refrigerator for later use.