Dutch Oven Chocolate Chip Cookies
A full batch of drop cookies baked over coals, with the butter and eggs swapped for things that survive a hot car.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 3.3 oz
- cal / oz
- 145
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 27 min
- water
- 60 ml cold
- 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
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 2 1/4 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Granulated sugar | 3/4 cup | |
| Brown sugar | 3/4 cup | packed |
| Butter-flavored shortening | 1 cup | stands in for the stick of butter; no cooler needed |
| Powdered whole egg | 5 tbsp | equals 2 eggs, rehydrated with 5 tbsp water |
| Water | 5 tbsp | cold, for the egg powder |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | |
| Semi-sweet chocolate chips | 1 bag (12 oz) | |
| Baking soda and salt | 1 tsp and 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Build the fire early. You want a bed of coals, not flames. For a 12-inch oven at 350°F, that is roughly 8 coals underneath and 17 on the lid.
- Whisk the egg powder into 5 tbsp of cold water in a cup and let it sit while you do everything else.
- Beat the shortening with both sugars and the vanilla in a large bowl until it looks smooth and pale. This takes longer with a camp spoon than it does at home. Keep going.
- Stir in the egg mixture, then work in the flour, soda, and salt a scoop at a time. Fold in the chips last.
- Drop spoonfuls onto a pie tin, well spaced. Set the tin on three small rocks or a second inverted tin inside the dutch oven so it sits level and off the floor.
- Lid on, coals on top and under. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes. Rotate the oven a third turn and the lid a third turn the other way at the halfway mark.
- Pull them when the edges set and the middles still look soft. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Camp baking fails in two places: the fat and the eggs. Both want a cooler, and a cooler on day three is a warm box of water. Shortening holds its shape at 90 degrees and creams the same way butter does, and powdered egg rehydrates in a minute. The dough that comes out is slightly less rich and slightly more forgiving, which is the correct trade when your oven temperature is a guess.
The rocks under the pie tin are the part people skip. Set a tin flat on the dutch oven floor and the bottoms are black before the middles set. Raise it an inch and the heat circulates. Rotating oven and lid in opposite directions cancels out the hot spot that every coal bed has.
Packing
Combine flour, both sugars, soda, and salt in one gallon bag at home. Shortening rides in a screw-top jar, egg powder and vanilla in a small bottle, chips in their bag. Bring the pie tin, a lid lifter, and leather gloves.
Variations
- Skip the tins and press the whole batch into a parchment-lined oven for one thick pan cookie. Add about 8 minutes.
- Swap half the chips for M&Ms so the color survives the heat.
- Cut the recipe to two-thirds for a 10-inch oven. Same coals, same time.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/chocolate_chip_cookies-1318.asp