My husband Eddie, my mom, and I went camping at Lake Sonoma this weekend. Since weekends are when I usually bake for Tuesdays with Dorie I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to make this weeks recipe. This weeks recipe, Pumpkin Muffins was chosen by Kelly of My Barbaric Gulp. The pumpkin muffins looked way too good to pass up and I had found a post by cupcake project where she had baked a cupcake in an orange shell and I thought "what a great idea!" So I decided to make the pumpkin batter, stuff it in some orange shells, cover them with foil and bake them in the fire while camping!
So I made the dough at home. I've adapted Dorie greenspans recipe and added rolled oats. I have posted my version of this recipe at the bottom of this post. You can find the original recipe in Dorie Greenspans book Baking: From my home to yours or on Kelly's post.
I hollowed out some oranges...
And stuffed the dough inside.
I wrapped the oranges in foil and threw them in the fire.
I let them cook for twenty minutes or so, until they were nice and roasted and cooked fully through. The outside of the oranges were slightly charred when they were done.
And this is how it turned out. I know....not very appetizing. Actually I was less than pleased with the result. The orange gave it a bitter taste and it wasn't very good. I will probably never bake like this again. But oh well! I had to try! I do have to say they turned out very moist!
Lake Sonoma is a beautiful lake nestled in the heart of wine country, surrounded by beautiful green mountains. To get to this lake you drive through ten miles of windy road surrounded by fields of luscious grape vines and beautiful mansions that make up the hundreds of wineries that surround this lake. We decided to camp at Quicksilver, a hike in or boat in camp site right on the lakes shore. But to get there we had to park at the top of the mountain and hike all of our stuff half a mile in.
Half a mile doesn't seem that bad....but when you are going half a mile down a steep hill carrying 50lbs worth of stuff....it's a trek! Eddie and I had to make two trips to get all the stuff down to the lake, each time carrying about fifty pounds! It was really hot as well so we were not looking...or feeling so pretty when we were done!
But it was so worth it! We were completely secluded, with this gorgeous view all to ourselves!
On Friday we were too exhausted from carrying all the stuff down to the site so we cooked dinner, played some cards, and called it an early night. On Saturday, it was another absolutely beautiful day and we spend it hiking the surrounding mountains. We let the dogs cool down by taking a swim in the lake...
even our little guy got in the water!
I did a lot of cooking on the grill, I had A LOT of fun cooking! I also did a lot of eating. I always eat more when I'm camping. The food always taste soo good and I can never resist the smores! I think I ate a whole chocolate bar all too myself!
And of course we roasted marshmallows over the fire. What is camping without marshmallows? And SMORES! This is my mom, roasting her marshmallow! Overall it was a great trip, and I can't wait to go back!
Here is some info on Lake Sonoma:
http://www.russianrivertravel.com/parks-lakesonoma.htm
http://www.parks.sonoma.net/laktrls.html
http://www.spn.usace.army.mil/lakesonoma/docs/Lake%20Sonoma%20Trail%20Map.pdf
Here is my recipe for pumpkin muffins, adapted from Dorie Grennspans Recipe:
Makes enough to fill five large oranges:
Ingredients: 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup rolled oats, 1 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 stick unsalted butter, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 large eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup milk
Directions:
1. Mix together dry ingredients and spices in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Melt butter, using an electric mixer beat in sugars. Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated. Add vanilla, pumpkin, and milk, and beat until mixed.
3. Slowly add dry ingredients and beat until just incorporated.
5. Hollow out 5 oranges and spoon dough into oranges. Wrap with foil and grill until outside of orange is charred.
5 comments:
Looks like a lovely weekend! Beautiful scenery. I like your idea of trying this over the campfire.
Sorry to hear the baking in an orange didn't work for you. It wasn't bitter at all when I did it. I suppose how sweet the orange was to start with and how sweet the recipe was would factor in. Anyway, glad you gave it a try!
Too bad about the muffins but it sounds like you had a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing pics, it's a beautiful place. :)
I'm impressed with your baking experiment, even if it didn't work out! Good try.
Impressed with your way of cooking on your camping trip.
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