Dutch Oven Good Bars
Graham crust, condensed milk, two kinds of chips. Coals do the work while you set up camp.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 154
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 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
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Butter | 1 stick | stays fine in a cooler or one cool day out |
|---|---|---|
| Graham crackers | 1 package, crushed | crush at home in the sleeve |
| Sweetened condensed milk | 1 can (14 oz) | |
| Chocolate chips | 2 cups | |
| Peanut butter chips | 1 cup |
Method
- Build the coals and bring a 12-inch dutch oven to about 350: six briquettes in a ring under the oven, eighteen spread across the lid.
- Melt the butter in the bottom of the oven.
- Dump in the crushed grahams, stir until the crumbs are evenly dark with butter, then press them flat into a crust with the back of a spoon.
- Pour the condensed milk over the crust in an even spiral. Do not stir it in.
- Scatter the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips across the top.
- Lid on, bake 20 minutes. The edges should be bubbling and the top golden.
- Pull the coals off the lid and let it sit at least 15 minutes. Cut it hot and you get pudding, not bars.
This is a bar cookie that never gets mixed. Butter binds the graham crumbs into a crust, the condensed milk soaks down into it and sets like caramel as it bakes, and the chips melt into a layer on top. Nothing needs a bowl, a mixer, or a measured ratio, which is why it works in a dutch oven on the ground.
Heat placement is the whole game. Most of the coals go on the lid so the top browns and the chips melt without the crust scorching — six under, eighteen over, and rotate the oven and lid a quarter turn every five minutes if your fire runs hot on one side. The cooling wait is real. Condensed milk is liquid at bake temperature and firm at ambient, and nothing you do speeds that up.
Packing
Crush the grahams at home and carry them in a zip bag; the box is dead weight and they arrive crushed anyway. Chips go in one bag together, premeasured. The can and the butter are the only cooler or heavy items.
Variations
- Butterscotch chips in place of the peanut butter chips.
- A cup of shredded coconut over the condensed milk before the chips.
- A 10-inch oven takes about two-thirds of everything, same coals and same time.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/good_bars-1821.asp