Dutch Oven Cranberry Sesame Scones
A camp bake built on powdered buttermilk and shortening, so nothing needs a cooler.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 3.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 126
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 360 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.
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 3 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Turbinado sugar | 3/4 cup | |
| White sesame seeds | 6 tbsp | |
| Baking powder | 4 tsp | |
| Ground allspice | 1/4 tsp | |
| Ground cardamom | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Buttermilk powder | 6 tbsp | replaces 1 1/2 cups liquid buttermilk |
| Powdered whole egg | 2 tbsp | stands in for 1 large egg |
| Dried cranberries | 1 cup | |
| Vegetable shortening | 8 tbsp | sticks keep at ambient temperature; butter does not |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals, not flames.
- In the pot, whisk together everything dry: flour, sugar, sesame, baking powder, allspice, cardamom, salt, buttermilk powder, and egg powder.
- Cut the shortening in with two forks or your fingers until the pieces are the size of peas. Work fast and stop while it still looks lumpy.
- Stir in the cranberries, then add about 300 ml of cold water and mix until a shaggy dough comes together. Add water a tablespoon at a time if dry crumbs remain.
- Press the dough into a disc on the bottom of an oiled dutch oven and score it into eight wedges.
- Set the oven on a ring of coals and put roughly twice as many on the lid. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pot and the lid a quarter turn every five minutes.
- It is done when a wedge lifts clean and the bottom is browned. Pull the lid early if you smell scorching.
The original is an oven recipe with cold butter, buttermilk, and an egg, none of which travel. Powdered buttermilk and powdered egg go into the dry mix and rehydrate with the water you add, and shortening replaces the butter because it holds its shape in a hot pack without going rancid. The chemistry is the same: solid fat in pea-sized lumps steams apart in the heat and leaves layers.
Sesame seeds are the part worth keeping. Six tablespoons is more than it sounds, and they toast during the bake into something with actual crunch against a soft crumb. Coal placement matters more than timing here. Most of the heat belongs on the lid, or you get a burnt bottom and raw middle.
Packing
Combine all the dry ingredients, including the powders and cranberries, in one zip bag at home. Shortening rides in a separate screw-top jar. At camp it is two containers and some water.
Variations
- Swap the cranberries for chopped dried apricots or raisins.
- Skip the sesame seeds if anyone in camp reacts to them; the dough works fine without.
- Leftovers split and toasted on a griddle the next morning are better than fresh.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/cranberry-scones