Dutch Oven Berry Cobbler
Dried berries rehydrated in the pot, biscuit dough dropped on top, coals over the lid.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 96
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 700 ml boiled
- 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
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried mixed berries | 4 cups | blueberries, cranberries, sliced strawberries |
|---|---|---|
| Granulated sugar | 3/4 cup | for the fruit |
| Cornstarch | 3 tbsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Citric acid or lemon powder | 1 tsp | stands in for lemon juice |
| Butter | 2 tbsp | or shelf-stable ghee |
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
| Granulated sugar | 6 tbsp | for the topping |
| Baking powder | 3 1/2 tsp | |
| Kosher salt | 3/4 tsp | |
| Whole milk powder | 1/2 cup | |
| Shortening or powdered butter | 1/4 cup |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. You want a bed under the oven and a shovelful to spare for the lid.
- Put the dried berries in the dutch oven with 700 ml water, the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and citric acid. Stir and set it over the coals.
- Simmer 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the fruit plumps and the liquid goes thick and glossy. Drop the butter in and stir it through.
- Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk powder, and shortening in a bag or bowl. Add about 1 cup of water and stir just until it holds together as a shaggy dough.
- Drop the dough over the fruit in spoonfuls. Leave gaps so steam can escape.
- Lid on, and move most of your coals to the top. Roughly two-thirds up, one-third under, or the bottom scorches before the biscuits set.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Done is when a biscuit splits dry in the middle.
- Pull it off the heat and let it sit ten minutes. The filling is molten and it will thicken as it cools.
Fresh berries are mostly water, which is the wrong thing to haul to a campsite. Dried fruit and a measured pour of water get you to the same place: the berries drink the water back and the cornstarch turns what is left into filling. Citric acid replaces the lemon juice, and milk powder plus shortening replaces the heavy cream in the biscuit, so nothing here needs a cooler.
The coals are the part people get wrong. A dutch oven sitting in a fire bakes the bottom and steams the top, and you end up with pale wet dough over burnt jam. Most of the heat goes on the lid. Give the biscuits their twenty minutes without lifting it to check.
Packing
Fruit and its sugar-cornstarch mix in one bag, biscuit dry mix with the shortening cut in already in another. Butter rides in a small screw-top tin. At camp you are opening two bags and adding water.
Variations
- Swap half the flour for a pancake mix if you would rather not carry baking powder separately.
- A handful of chopped dried apple in the fruit adds body and stretches the berries.
- No dutch oven? Simmer the fruit in a deep skillet and drop the dough in smaller spoonfuls with a tight lid on. Watch the bottom.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/mixed-berry-cobbler