Camp Shortbread Bites
Two-bite butter cookies baked in a dutch oven, or pressed and packed at home for the trail.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 145
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 18 min
- total time
- 38 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Snack
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Unsalted butter | 1 cup | softened; keep it in the cooler until you start |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered sugar | 3/4 cup | granulated makes a sandy cookie, not a tender one |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | |
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
| Cornstarch | 1/4 cup | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Sprinkles | 2 tbsp | optional, and a few per cookie is plenty |
Method
- Premix the flour, cornstarch, and salt at home and carry it in one bag.
- At camp, beat the softened butter and powdered sugar in a bowl until pale and light. By hand this takes a solid five minutes and a fork works better than a spoon.
- Add the vanilla, then the dry mix. Stir only until no dry flour is left. Overworking it makes the cookies tough.
- Chill the dough in the cooler for at least an hour. Cold dough holds its shape; warm dough spreads flat.
- Roll the dough into balls about an inch across. Press each one down with the back of a fork and scatter a few sprinkles on top so they bake in.
- Line the dutch oven with parchment or foil. Set 8 coals underneath and 16 on the lid for roughly 350F.
- Bake 15 to 18 minutes. Pull them when the edges are set but still pale. They finish firming as they cool.
- Let them cool fully in the oven with the coals raked off, or they crumble when you lift them.
Shortbread is mostly butter held together by flour, which makes it one of the few baked goods that survives camp conditions. There is no leavening to fuss over, no egg to keep cold, and no rise to time. The cornstarch replaces some of the flour’s protein, so the crumb stays short instead of chewy. Powdered sugar does the same job from the other direction: it dissolves into the butter rather than staying gritty.
The chill is not optional. Butter that has been sitting near a fire will spread into one flat sheet in the dutch oven. Coals matter too, and the ratio matters more than the count. Weighting the lid two-to-one keeps heat coming from above, which is what browns the tops without scorching the bottoms. If you are backpacking, bake these at home and carry them; they hold up better in a hard container than most cookies.
Packing
Flour, cornstarch, and salt go in one bag; powdered sugar in another so it does not clump against the salt. Butter rides in the cooler. Sprinkles in a film canister or a corner of a bag.
Variations
- Bake at home, cool fully, and pack them in a rigid container as trail dessert. They keep about a week.
- Swap 2 tbsp of the flour for cocoa powder for a darker cookie.
- Grate in a little orange zest with the vanilla if you brought fruit anyway.
https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/christmas-shortbread-cookies