Dutch Oven Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Canned pumpkin, shortening, and powdered egg baked over coals in a dutch oven.
- calories
- 210
- weight
- 1.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 117
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 35 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 | 3/4 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Baking soda | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp plus a pinch for the icing | |
| Pumpkin pie spice | 1/2 tsp | |
| Vegetable shortening | 1/4 cup | stands in for butter, no cooler needed |
| White sugar | 1/2 cup | |
| Brown sugar | 1/2 cup | press it into the measure |
| Powdered whole egg | 1 egg worth, plus 2 tbsp water | |
| Vanilla extract | 1/2 tsp | |
| Canned pumpkin puree | 1/4 cup | a small can; the rest goes in oatmeal |
| Large dark chocolate chips | 3/4 cup | hold back 2 tbsp for the tops |
| Powdered sugar | 1/2 cup | for the icing |
| Powdered milk | 1 tbsp | mixed with 1 to 2 tbsp water |
| Light corn syrup | 3/4 tsp | keeps the icing glossy instead of chalky |
Method
- Start a fire and let it burn down. You want about 20 coals under and over a 10 inch dutch oven, roughly 350 degrees.
- Stir the flour, baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, and pumpkin pie spice together in one bag or bowl.
- In the pot or a second bowl, work the shortening with both sugars until it lightens and loses its grain.
- Whisk the powdered egg with 2 tbsp water, then beat it in with the vanilla and the pumpkin.
- Add the dry mix and stir only until it comes together. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Line the dutch oven with foil or parchment. Drop six 2 tbsp mounds, well spaced, and press a few of the held-back chips on top.
- Bake 18 to 20 minutes with coals above and below, giving the lid a quarter turn halfway. Edges set, centers still soft.
- Lift the batch out on the foil, reset the coals, and bake the second six.
- Stir the powdered sugar, powdered milk, water, corn syrup, and a pinch of salt into a thin glaze. Drizzle it over the cookies once they are cool enough to hold.
This is a home cookie moved onto coals. Butter and a fresh egg are the two things that will not ride in a pack, so shortening handles the fat and powdered egg handles the bind. Neither one misses much here, because the pumpkin is already doing the work of keeping the crumb wet.
Pumpkin is mostly water, which is why these bake soft and stay soft for two days in a bag. It also means they will not crisp, so stop at 20 minutes and let the residual heat finish them. Coal count matters more than time: too many underneath and the bottoms go dark before the middles set.
Packing
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spice in one bag at home. Sugars in a second, powdered sugar and milk powder in a third. Shortening rides in a screw-top jar. Chocolate chips melt in a hot pack, so keep them low and shaded.
Variations
- Skip the icing entirely and add 2 tbsp more brown sugar to the dough. One less bag, one less bowl.
- No dutch oven: bake them in a covered foil pan set on a grill grate over low coals, checking at 15 minutes.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/pumpkin-dark-chocolate-chip-cookies