Cayenne Cocoa Skillet Brownie
A spiced brownie baked in a skillet over coals. Cayenne and cinnamon keep it from being one flat note of sugar.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 3.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 137
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 40 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
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 1/2 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Unsweetened cocoa powder | 1/3 cup | |
| Granulated sugar | 1 cup | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/4 tsp | a scant 1/8 tsp if you are feeding anyone cautious |
| Ground cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Semisweet chocolate chips | 1/2 cup | |
| Unsalted butter | 1/2 cup | rides in the cooler |
| Eggs | 2 large | or 2 tbsp powdered whole egg plus 5 tbsp water |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals, not flames. Spread a shallow layer under the oven and save about twice as many for the lid.
- Melt the butter in the skillet or the bottom of the dutch oven, then pour it into a bowl and let it sit off the heat until it is warm rather than hot. Wipe the pan and grease it with a smear of the butter.
- Beat the sugar, eggs, and vanilla together with a fork until the mix lightens and thickens. Two minutes of arm work.
- Pour in the melted butter and stir smooth. Add the premixed dry bag and stir only until you no longer see dry flour. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Scrape the batter into the greased pan, set the lid on, and bank the coals: a thin ring underneath, the bulk on top. Bottom heat is what burns brownies outdoors.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes. It is done when the edges pull away and a twig poked into the middle comes out with damp crumbs, not batter. Pull the bottom coals and let it sit ten minutes before cutting.
Cayenne and cinnamon are here for structure, not novelty. Cocoa is bitter and the sugar load is high, so a dessert like this reads flat once it cools. The heat arrives at the back of the throat a second after the chocolate and gives the whole thing an ending. A quarter teaspoon is enough to notice and not enough to argue about.
The outdoor risk is scorching, not underbaking. Coals under a cast iron pan run far hotter than an oven floor, so most of them belong on the lid. Sifting the dry mix at home matters more than it sounds: cocoa clumps, and unsifted cayenne clumps worse, which is how one person gets a mouthful of pepper. Butter and eggs need a cooler, so this is a car-camping dessert unless you go the powdered route.
Packing
Flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, cayenne, and cinnamon go into one bag at home, sifted together so the cayenne is evenly spread and nobody gets a hot corner. Chocolate chips in their own bag. Butter and eggs live in the cooler; powdered egg replaces them if you have no cooler.
Variations
- Swap the cayenne for chipotle powder if you want smoke behind the heat.
- Powdered whole egg and shelf-stable coconut oil in place of butter make this a no-cooler recipe. The crumb is drier but it still works.
- A pinch of instant espresso in the dry mix deepens the cocoa.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/heart-burn-brownie