Hudson Bay Bread is really a moist, high-energy granola bar. Each piece contains about a million calories!
Now that the Corona virus is keeping most of us at home, here’s a delicious, nutritious, fun trail food you can make with your kids. Beware though; kids love it and they won’t stop eating it until they get sick. Adults love it too, but have the sense to know when to quit. Hudson Bay Bread has been the traditional lunch fare in youth camps from Maine to Minnesota and throughout Canada. Charles L Sommers Canoe Base, in Ely, MN, has been serving it to Boy Scouts since 1960. It is rumored that the base got the recipe from the Minnesota Outward Bound School near Ely. Hudson Bay Bread is a hands-down favorite on strenuous trips, but it may be too rich (it contains about a million calories!) for snacking at home. It’s really more of a moist granola bar than a bread. There are many variations. This is the “official” recipe, to which I add chocolate chips (a must!). The following recipe makes a ten-day lunch supply for a hungry crew of four teenagers. Eat it alone or, for more calories, top it with peanut butter and/or jam.*
INGREDIENTS
3 cups soft margarine or butter
4 cups white sugar
1/3 cup light Karo corn syrup
2/3 cup honey
2 tsp maple flavoring (Mapleine)
19 cups (yes,19!) finely ground rolled oats (not instant oats!). We're talking hungry teens here!
1-1/2 cups sliced almonds
1 cup chocolate chips
Cream together the above ingredients. Gradually add the sliced almonds and chocolate chips and rolled oats. Some cooks add shredded coconut and raisins.
PREPARATION
Press into a greased cake pan about ¼ to 1/8 inch thick. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes, until golden brown. Don’t overcook! Press down on the “bread” with a spatula (to prevent crumbling) before you cut and remove the squares from the pan. “Teen serving size” (twice what most adults will tolerate) measures about 3-1/2 inches square. Wrap each square in plastic wrap. Shelf life is a full summer or more. Unused bars freeze well and keep till next year.
*Recipe is lightly modified from my book, Basic Illustrated: Cooking (out-of-print).
There are more trail recipes in my books, CAMPING'S TOP SECRETS and CANOEING WILD RIVERS, 5th Ed.
My latest book, JUSTIN CODY'S RACE TO SURVIVAL! is a riveting high-adventure tale and an outdoor skills book in one. A first for teen books of this type.
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