Campfire chocolate oranges
You’ll need
- Spoons
- A sharp knife
- Tinfoil
- A campfire
- Oranges
- Chocolate brownie mix
- Heat-resistant gloves
- Long tongs
- A first aid burns kit
- A bucket of water or sand
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.
Getting ready to cook
- Ensure everyone's washed their hands before cooking or preparing the mixture.
- Before this activity, you could run Be an emergency aider: burns and Sitting safely by a campfire to help everyone to stay safe
- Create a campfire ready to cook on. Use our activity, Construct a campfire, for a step-by-step guide to building a fire and some top tips.
- Make up enough brownie mix for everyone. As a guide, a packet of brownie mix fills about five oranges. It’s up to you whether you use a pre-made brownie mix, or make your own.
- Ensure the mixture caters for all dietary requirements and allergies in your group. We’ve included a dairy-free and egg-free recipe that can be made gluten free too.
- Slice the tops off of the oranges.
Make the oranges
- Everyone should wash their hands and get ready to cook. The next step is messy, so everyone should protect surfaces (and their clothes!) with aprons, or old newspapers or bags.
- Give everyone an orange with the top cut off and a dessert spoon. Everyone should use the dessert spoon to scoop out the inside of the orange.
- The inside of the orange doesn't have to be thrown away, think about other ways to use it, such as eating it or straining it over a sieve for juice.
- Everyone should fill their empty orange half full with brownie mix. No one should overfill the orange. The mixture expands while it cooks, so overfilled oranges could create a brownie volcano!
- Ask everyone to put the top back on their orange, like a perfectly fitting lid. Then wrap their orange in tinfoil.
- An adult should use tongs and heat-resistant gloves to put the oranges in the embers of the fire.
- Everyone should try to remember where their orange is – maybe they could sit opposite it.
- After ten minutes, an adult should use the tongs and heat-resistant gloves to turn the oranges over so both sides cook evenly.
- While the oranges are cooking everyone could help clean up or play a game such as Citrus switch.
- An adult should check the orange brownies are cooked by holding them with tongs and heat-resistant gloves. Push a cocktail stick or skewer into the centre. If it comes out pretty dry, the oranges are ready! If it’s covered in sticky, sloppy, mixture, leave it in the fire to cook for a few more minutes.
- Once everyone’s orange brownie is cooked, they should leave it for a few minutes to cool down. Then they should enjoy eating the juicy brownie with a spoon.
Reflection
This activity was a great introduction to the fun of outdoors cooking! What was everyone’s favourite bit of cooking and eating outside?
Instead of cooking oranges in a tray in the oven, everyone wrapped them in foil and cooked them straight on a fire.
Can anyone think of any other utensils they use in their kitchen and a ‘backwoods’ outdoor cooking alternative?
This activity also needed everyone to practice different skills to the ones they usually use when cooking indoors. What do people do after they eat a meal they’ve cooked inside, for example after dinner at home?
People have to clear away the dishes and wash them up (or put them in the dishwasher). How was this recipe different?
There weren’t any tins or bowls for the brownie – instead there was an orange skin!
People could tear their orange skin into small pieces and bury the pieces. They’ll take about six months to decompose.
What do people do when they’ve finished with an oven? They turn it off. How is a fire different? People can’t just turn it off – they need to put it out and make sure it's left safely.
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
- Outdoor activities
You must have permission to use the location. Always check the weather forecast, and inform parents and carers of any change in venue.
- Food
Remember to check for allergies, eating problems, fasting or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you’ve suitable areas for storing and preparing food and avoid cross contamination of different foods. Take a look at our guidance on food safety and hygiene.
- Sharp objects
Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
- Fires and stoves
Make sure anyone using fires and stoves is doing so safely. Check that the equipment and area are suitable and have plenty of ventilation. Follow the gas safety guidance. Have a safe way to extinguish the fire in an emergency.
Depending on your group, some people may need more help with scooping out the inside of their orange. Maybe you could give people a head start by loosening the flesh.
It’s up to you whether you make the mixture from scratch or use a packet. Maybe everyone could get involved and help make the mixture.
Ensure the recipe caters for all dietary requirements and allergies in your group. We’ve included a dairy-free and egg-free recipe that can be made gluten free too.
People could work in pairs or with a young leader to scoop the orange out and add the mixture to make sure everyone's supported in this task.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
You could plan a whole meal to cook over the campfire – think about a balanced starter and main to go with your chocolate orange dessert, then work together to prepare and cook the banquet.
This could count towards the Cook Activity Badge.
Remember, if you do this activity while on a sleepover or camp it could count towards your My Outdoors Challenge Award.