Dutch Oven Cornbread Cookies
A box of skillet cornbread mix turned into cookies over coals. Three main ingredients, no mixer.
- calories
- 215
- weight
- 1.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 134
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 45 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
- Basic
Ingredients
| Skillet cornbread mix | 1 package (about 15 oz) | dry, not prepared |
|---|---|---|
| Ghee or vegetable shortening | 6 tbsp | stands in for softened butter, no cooler needed |
| Light brown sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Powdered whole egg | 3 tbsp | plus 3 tbsp cold water |
| Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Vanilla powder | 1/2 tsp | extract works, it just leaks in a pack |
Method
- Build a fire early and let it burn down. You want coals, not flame, and about 25 of them.
- Stir the powdered egg into 45 ml of cold water in a cup. Let it sit five minutes while you do the rest.
- Work the ghee and brown sugar together in a pot with a spoon until there are no lumps of fat left.
- Stir in the egg, vanilla, and cinnamon, then add the cornbread mix. Keep stirring until it pulls together into one stiff ball.
- Roll tablespoon lumps of dough between your palms and set them in a greased dutch oven lid or foil-lined bottom, two inches apart.
- Bake with about 17 coals on the lid and 8 underneath for 11 to 15 minutes. Rotate the oven a quarter turn halfway. Pull them when the edges set and the centers still look soft.
- Let them firm up off the heat for five minutes before you move them.
Cornbread mix already contains the flour, leavener, and salt a cookie needs, which is why this works with so little added. The mix is dry and heavy on cornmeal, so the dough comes out stiff and holds its shape on the lid instead of spreading into one sheet.
The home version calls for softened butter and two fresh eggs. Ghee replaces the butter without a cooler and behaves the same when creamed, and powdered egg rehydrated in a cup covers the binding. Coals run hotter than an oven, so watch the bottoms rather than the clock and take the lid off early the first time.
Packing
Measure the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla powder, and egg powder into one small bag at home. The mix stays in its own bag, the ghee in a screw-top jar. Grease and foil ride with the dutch oven.
Variations
- Sandwich two with jam once they cool.
- A handful of dried cranberries or chocolate chips folded into the dough at the end.
- No dutch oven: press the dough flat in a greased skillet and cook it covered over low coals as one big cake.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/sweet-spot-cornbread-cookies