These easy campfire eclairs are a great campfire dessert on a stick that uses refrigerated biscuit dough, can be stuffed with your favorite goodies, and might even replace the classic s’more!
Well, my family and I are still recovering from our weekend camping trip with my son’s cub scout pack. Let me rephrase that: I am still recovering, unpacking and washing everything from our weekend camping trip! We had a great time and have terrific memories.
My two boys got to ride the BMX track over and over and over again. And they had a blast on the zip-line, climbing rocks and eating s’mores for breakfast! My 3 year old girl had fun, too, making a mess of herself in the dirt and making friends with every girl she found. She cried when we left and said she wanted to live there!
One of my favorite memories of the camping trip? These campfire eclairs. Because when you’re camping, you need a campfire dessert on a stick!
What makes this recipe so awesome?
The campfire eclair is a cruder version of the elegant French dessert, éclair. An eclair is an oblong shaped pastry made of puff pastry-like dough, stuffed custard and iced with chocolate. You can find a variety of different fillings and icings, but the classic version is filled with custard and topped with chocolate.
My campfire eclair pays tribute to this fabulous French dessert. The dough we used is refrigerated biscuit dough and it is wrapped and cooked over a campfire using a long dowel. It is very kid friendly. In fact our cub scouts loved making this camping dessert.
So if you are looking for a campfire dessert that goes beyond the classic s’more, you are going to LOVE these campfire eclairs!
Ingredients you need
- Refrigerated package of biscuit dough: You can use any of your favorite brands of refrigerated biscuit dough.
- Chocolate pudding: If you are camping, those prepackaged pudding packs are a life saver. You can use any flavor: chocolate, vanilla and swirl.
- Strawberries: Fresh fruit make even the most decadent desserts a little bit healthy!
- Whipped cream: Again, if you are camping, just take a can of whipped cream with you.
- M&M candies: This is optional, but you can garnish your campfire eclairs with M&Ms, sprinkles or skip altogether.
Step-by-step directions
1. You will need a big stick with the bark removed or a dowel that is at least 1-inch thick to make these campfire eclairs. Soak the stick in water for 30 minutes or so before using, because you don’t want it to burn in the fire. Think something as thick as a broom handle.
2. Open and unroll biscuit dough. Stretch out and flatten each biscuit round in your hand.
3. Stretch one biscuit dough over one stick, smoothing out any creases. For quick and even cooking, make sure dough is about ¼-inch thick.
4. Place one biscuit dough covered stick over the flames and cook until evenly browned, about 5-10 minutes. Rotate stick continuously to prevent burning.
5. Biscuit shell is done when all sides are browned and inside is cooked through. Carefully, remove biscuit shell from stick.
6. Fill inside of each éclair with pudding and strawberries.
7. Divide evenly and top éclairs with whipped cream and M&Ms.
Recipe tips and FAQs
If you find yourself making a lot of these eclairs for a scout troop, for example, you can get these sticks from your local hardware store. My boys’ boy scout troop has a batch of these sticks and they take it on camping trips regularly.
As I mentioned earlier, the dough of the eclair is refrigerated biscuit dough. We have also used instant pancake mix and add enough water until you have a firm dough that has the same texture as pizza dough. You will need about a tennis ball sized amount of dough for each campfire eclair.
Ideally you will want to make sure the dough is about ¼-inch thick. If the dough is too thin, holes will show up and your eclair will fall apart. Too thick, and the outside will get cooked but the inside will remain raw. So do your best to spread an even layer of biscuit dough around the dowel.
You can fill up your eclair shells with a number of different fillings. Other options include:
- raspberries
- blueberries
- Nutella
- roasted marshmallows
- chocolate chips
This was such a popular dessert that I created my own homemade eclair dough recipe and put it in my new cookbook, The Camp & Cabin Cookbook. But, for that recipe, you’ll have to get the book! Refrigerated biscuit dough works great, but I’m seriously more partial to the homemade eclair recipe.
Special thanks to Lesley Kershaw Tennessen, aka The Dutch Oven Diva, for cooking from my cookbook and giving me permission to share the pictures from her campfire cooking class!
Campfire Eclairs
These easy campfire eclairs are a great campfire dessert on a stick that uses refrigerated biscuit dough, can be stuffed with your favorite goodies, and might even replace the classic s'more!
Ingredients
- 1 refrigerated package of biscuit dough
- 14 oz chocolate pudding
- 1 pint strawberries, sliced
- 2 cup whipped cream
- ½ cup M&M candies
Instructions
- Pre-soak your large sticks in water for 20 minutes to prevent burning.
- Open and unroll biscuit dough.
- Stretch out and flatten each biscuit round in your hand.
- Stretch one biscuit dough over one stick, smoothing out any creases. For quick and even cooking, make sure dough is about ¼-inch thick.
- Place one biscuit dough covered stick over the flames and cook until evenly browned, about 5-10 minutes. Rotate stick continuously to prevent burning.
- Biscuit shell is done when all sides are browned and inside is cooked through. Carefully, remove biscuit shell from stick.
- Repeat steps 4-6 and cook other biscuit dough rounds.
- Divide evenly and fill inside of each éclair with pudding and strawberries.
- Divide evenly and top éclairs with whipped cream and M&Ms.
Notes
Serving Suggestions: You can also fill it up with other fresh fruits and berries, jams and cream fillings.
Cooking Tips: Don't have a thick stick? Cover your stick with some aluminum foil to thicken it up.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1 eclairAmount Per Serving: Calories: 487Total Fat: 18.4gSaturated Fat: 9.3gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 1675mgCarbohydrates: 75.1gFiber: 3.7gSugar: 8.1gProtein: 5.3g
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