I have a weakness for baked goods.  Muffins, scones, breads… mmm.  It would be really nice to be able to enjoy a warm muffin after hiking through the woods.

Unfortunately, the minimalist backpacking style of which I am so fond is in opposition to such luxury.  My skin-out dry weight is less than 20 pounds, so throwing in a 15-pound Dutch oven is a non-starter.  Sure, there are gizmos like the Outback Oven that are designed to convert stoves into ovens, but they’re not compatible with my backpacking stove, expensive, bulky, and heavy.  The Bakepacker looks promising, but it seems expensive, and I’m not fond of the idea of heating foods in Ziploc-type plastic bags.  What to do?

The solution: steam baking.  I ran across the instructions and had to give it a try.

There are just a few simple steps.  Get two small (about 1″ tall) pieces of aluminum foil, put a small slit in each of them, and put them together to form an “X”.  Place the X in the bottom of a small pot (I used an 850 ml MSR titanium kettle).  Pour water into the pot until the X is nearly covered.  Place a foil muffin cup on top of the X.

Fill the muffin cup about 2/3 full with your favorite “just-add-water” mix (to which you should have added the usual amount of water).  Put the lid on the pot, put the pot on a stove, and fire up the stove.  Let the water boil about 5 minutes, then turn the heat off and let eveything sit for at least another 10 minutes.  After that, open and enjoy!

I tested this on my backpacking trip at Big Basin Redwoods State Park last Friday night.  The blueberry muffin tasted fantastic after a long day on the trail, and there was no mess.  True, the muffin wasn’t as brown as it would have been in a conventional oven, but it was warm and fluffy.

Delicious.