camp meals

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

Cookie dough baked as one pan cookie over a stove, with butter powder standing in for the stick.

calories
430
weight
3.2 oz
cal / oz
134
protein
5 g
serves
4, scales
prep
5 min
cook
18 min
total time
23 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
  • Canister stove
  • Campfire coals
  • Liquid fuel
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Canoe / raft
  • Vegetarian
  • Nut free
  • Real dishes
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

All-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups
Coconut sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar works the same
Cornstarch 2 tsp
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon 1/2 tsp
Powdered butter 1/2 cup or 6 tbsp ghee, which keeps unrefrigerated
Powdered whole egg 2 tbsp equals one egg
Vanilla powder 1/2 tsp extract leaks; powder does not
Dark chocolate chips 3/4 cup they soften in heat but re-set
Cold water about 1/4 cup

Method

  1. Dump the dry premix into your pot or pan and add water a splash at a time. Stop when it holds together as a stiff dough. Too much water and it turns into batter that never sets.
  2. Work in the chocolate chips with a spoon.
  3. Press the dough flat across the bottom of a wide pan. Thin means it cooks through; a mound stays raw in the middle.
  4. Set the pan over the lowest flame the stove will hold and cover it. On a fire, use coals off to the side, never direct flame.
  5. Check at ten minutes. It is done when the edges pull away and brown and the center is set but still soft, usually fifteen to eighteen minutes.
  6. Pull it off the heat and let it sit five minutes. It firms up as it cools. Cut it in the pan.

This started as a home cookie recipe, which means an oven, a stick of butter, and a fresh egg. None of that travels. Powdered butter and powdered egg rehydrate into something close enough, and the whole batch bakes as one flat cookie in a covered pan instead of twelve on a sheet.

The cornstarch is worth carrying. It cuts the flour’s gluten, so the middle stays soft even though a camp pan cooks unevenly and you will almost certainly overshoot. Low heat and a lid are the other half: the lid traps enough steam to cook the top before the bottom scorches. Pull it early. It keeps setting off the heat.

Packing

Combine flour, sugar, cornstarch, soda, salt, cinnamon, butter powder, egg powder, and vanilla powder in one bag at home. Chocolate chips ride in their own bag so they do not weld to the flour if the day gets hot.

Variations

  • Skip the pan and roll the dough into balls, then cook them in a covered pan on a folded foil ring to lift them off the hot spot.
  • Swap the butter powder for coconut oil powder and the egg powder for 1 tbsp ground flax to make it vegan.
  • Instant coffee, half a teaspoon, in the dry mix pushes the chocolate darker.

https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/healthy-chocolate-chip-cookies