Primitive (for us) campgrounds and gourmet pancakes. What kind of combination is that? A winning one we have to share.
We reached the last day of our whirlwind road trip and realized we hadn’t managed to enjoy a staple camping food – s’mores, so we decided to have s’mores pancakes. Chocolate, marshmallows, and pancakes. Does it get any better than that? No. Not really.
When you’re camping, it all kind of turns into one fantastic eating event where rules are broken and you eat what you want for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This New England camping road trip has been all topsy-turvy with breakfast for dinner, dinner for breakfast, and yes, even dessert for breakfast.
We spent the last night of our trip at George Washington Campground in Rhode Island. Apparently a few too many campgrounds got crossed in my mind and I thought this one had flush toilets and hot showers. We pulled up after dark and the ‘bathrooms’ I booked our site close to (because with kids you don’t want to be far away from them) was portapotties.
We also found we would need to go buy wood so we set our tent up in a record 15 minutes and headed to the closest store for firewood and bathrooms. I do have my limits and portapotties in the dark are not my first preference.
However, the campsites were spacious and well kept – the ground space freshly raked and the fire pit clean with a grill grate. They do not have on-site electricity or water but the water was just across from the ‘bathrooms’ and we bring an extension cord for the times we need electricity. As far as amenities go, they do have a dumpster for trash disposal, a boat ramp, and a beach for swimming in the Bowdish Reservoir.
When it comes to cooking, it would go figure that our fire was a little tougher to start this day. We discovered that we aren’t so rough and tough that we are above using a log starter as it definitely minimizes the frustration of getting a good fire going, but the quality of wood is important too and when you buy the wood in a sealed box you can’t control that. In other words, no, I don’t recommend getting you camping wood from Walmart unless you have no other option.
Once we got the fire going I started making the pancakes. I am not going to lie, these s’mores pancakes were a fairly easy breakfast but the marshmallows were a pain. Next time I’m using mini marshmallows and I recommend you do the same. I cut big marshmallows into small pieces and they stuck to everything except going into the pan. By the time all was said and done I almost threw the bowl into the fire, and I most definitely didn’t add marshmallows to the last couple pancakes — mine. I just added extra chocolate. You can’t go wrong with chocolate in a pancake.
I recommend making your own pancake mix to take with you because it’s cheaper and super easy, but if you run out of time or go crazy with deadlines and packing for out of town, like me, buy a mix. Just do it. I grabbed Brand 365 organic buttermilk pancake and waffle mix at Whole Foods and it was good. It just wasn’t MY pancake recipe. I love my pancake recipe.
Steps to Make S’more Pancakes
- Mix your pancake batter.
- Drop batter by spoonfuls into a pan that has been heated with oil or butter.
- Dot chocolate and marshmallows over the top.
- Lightly cover the chocolate and marshmallows with pancake batter.
- When bubbles on top of the pancake start popping, flip it.
- Top with chopped chocolate and marshmallow pieces and enjoy.
More Great Camping Recipes
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