DuPage County Girl Scouts learn cooking skills, how to build fire

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A deer steps daintily around the edges of a clearing at Camp Greene Wood, near Route 53 and 75th Street, as Scouts learn to build and cook over a fire. | Cheryl S. McCarthy~For The Sun

Fudgy Fruit Cones

An original dessert by Girl Scout Camp Chefs. Makes a dozen.

15 ice cream cones

1 21-ounce can apple pie filling

4 bananas, sliced into coins

8 cups chocolate chips

1 pound bag mini marshmallows

Spoon apple filling into 12 cones. Top with banana slices. In a saucepan on a grate over a campfire (or on stovetop), melt chocolate chips and marshmallows, stirring and watching so it doesn’t burn. Spoon mixture into cones. Crush three remaining empty cones and sprinkle atop chocolate. (Or sprinkle on chopped nuts). Let cool and serve.

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Updated: September 6, 2011 12:16AM

The hottest restaurant around these days is not some tony downtown eatery, but a campfire at Camp Greene Wood in southeast DuPage County. There 12 Girl Scouts cook up culinary creations during day camp with a “Camp Chef” focus.

At Greene Wood, Girl Scouts can spend their week on canoeing, archery, bicycling, drama — or cooking.

These 10- to 13-year-olds prepare and cook a group lunch outdoors every day, over a fire or campstove, under the tutelage of three counselors. The last night of camp, they also cook dinner, sleep over and prepare breakfast.

“We’ve learned to make pitas, quesadillas and fajitas,” said Skylar Rolle, 12. “It’s more complex than PB&J. We wanted to do something more complicated than at home.”

“We learned to apply ideas from foods we knew, to make new foods,” said Mariah McDonald, 12. “We learned how to make a fire.”

They also learned that cooking requires planning and division of labor. On a recent morning, as some girls created individual pocket pizzas to toast for lunch, others built a second fire in a pit to cook marinated chicken breasts for supper. They call that a “bean hole,” which is a fire in a pit that burns down to coals. Marinated foil-wrapped chicken pieces are laid on the coals. The pit is filled with soil, and the food cooks slowly for a couple of hours. It’s a good technique for a whole chicken, turkey breast or ham, say counselors known as Tootsie Pop, Poppyseed and Fawn.

One morning, the girls were presented with an array of ingredients and instructed to create a meal. They divided into teams of four chefs each. Like the television show “Iron Chef,” each tied on a bandanna in her team’s color.

“We looked like ninjas,” said Joanna McInnes, 11.

They portioned out ingredients to teams.

“Obviously, we didn’t want chocolate chips and marshmallows as the main course,” said Anna Souders, 11. “When we saw the bananas, chocolate chips and marshmallows, we were thinking banana boats — but there weren’t enough bananas for that. Then we thought of a pie, but that wouldn’t work either.”

Finally, to create their original dessert, they set out a dozen cones, and spooned apple pie filling into each. Slices of banana were laid atop the filling.

“Once the fire was ready, we put the marshmallows and chocolate chips in a pot on a grate, and melted and stirred it. Then we scooped the chocolate mixture on top of the cones, packing it in,” Anna said. “We had three empty cones left, so we crumbled them and sprinkled them on top.”

Reviews were positive.

“It tasted like brownies!” said Mandie Backman, 13.

“Awesome!” said Gabby Tarrant, 10.

“Really good!” said Jane Szymanski, 11.

“I was a little leery at first,” said Tootsie Pop, 21, who’s a student at Northern Illinois University when not at camp, “but it was really delicious.”

Camp Chefs also include Anna Martinello, 12; Jane Bell, 11; Cecilia Falco, 11; Kara Nedvar, 11; and Abbie Kauck, 11.

Know any interesting Naperville cooks? Contact cherylsmccarthy@hotmail.com