Skillet Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie
Cookie dough scaled to one pan and cooked over a fire. Eaten with a spoon.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 130
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 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
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 3/4 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Whole grain flour | 1/4 cup | whole wheat or oat flour |
| Old fashioned rolled oats | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Brown sugar | 3/4 cup | packs the molasses in without a jar |
| Baking soda | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Powdered whole egg | 2 tbsp | stands in for 1 egg |
| Coconut oil | 1/3 cup | solid at home, liquid in the pan |
| Butter powder or ghee | 3 tbsp | ghee keeps unrefrigerated for weeks |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | a dropper bottle is enough |
| Chocolate chips | 3/4 cup | chocolate chunks survive heat better than chips |
| Water | 1/4 cup |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down. You want coals, not flame, and a grate set a few inches above them.
- Melt the coconut oil and ghee in a small skillet, then pull it off the heat and pour the fat into the dry mix bag.
- Add the vanilla and 60 ml of cold water to the bag. Work it with your hands until there are no dry pockets. It should hold together, not pour.
- Wipe the skillet, press the dough into it in an even layer, and cover with foil or a lid.
- Set it over the coals for 15 to 20 minutes. Rotate the pan a quarter turn every few minutes so one side does not scorch.
- Pull it when the edges pull away from the pan and the center is set but soft. Let it sit five minutes, then hand out spoons.
This started as a butter-and-egg cookie dough for six dozen cookies, which is not something you do at a campsite. The batch is cut to one skillet, the egg becomes powder, the butter becomes ghee, and the molasses and white sugar collapse into brown sugar, which is the same thing in one bag. Everything but the fat rides as a single dry mix.
A campfire has no thermostat, so this is baked as one thick round rather than individual cookies. A slab is forgiving. The lid traps steam and cooks the top while the coals work the bottom, and rotating the pan is what stands in for even oven heat. Coals, not flames, or the bottom is black before the middle sets.
Packing
Flour, oats, sugar, soda, cinnamon, salt, and egg powder go into one gallon bag at home. Chocolate chips ride in their own bag so they do not soften into the flour. Coconut oil and ghee in a screwtop jar.
Variations
- Dried cranberries or chopped dates in place of half the chocolate.
- Swap all the flour for a gluten-free blend and use certified gluten-free oats.
- Skip the pan and drop spoonfuls onto a foil sheet over the grate, but watch them, they burn fast.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/yummy-recipe-vanishing-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies