Toll House Cookies in a Dutch Oven
The 1938 drop cookie, rebuilt around oil and a lidded pot on coals.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 3 oz
- cal / oz
- 130
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 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
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 2 1/4 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Brown sugar | 3/4 cup | packed |
| White sugar | 1/2 cup | |
| Baking soda | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | stands in for the egg's richness |
| Semisweet chocolate chips | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Chopped walnuts | 3/4 cup | |
| Neutral oil | 3/4 cup | canola or light olive |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | carried in a small dropper bottle |
| Cold water | 1/4 cup |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. You want steady heat, not flame.
- Dump the dry premix into the Dutch oven liner or a bowl. Pour in the oil, vanilla, and 60 ml of cold water. Stir until no dry flour is left; the dough will be stiff and a little greasy.
- Grease the Dutch oven and drop the dough in twelve rough spoonfuls, leaving space between them.
- Set the oven on a bed of about eight coals and put fifteen or so on the lid. That runs close to 350F in a 12-inch oven.
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn every five minutes so one side does not scorch.
- Pull the lid when the edges are set and the tops still look underdone. Lift the cookies out with a spatula and let them firm up on a plate.
Ruth Wakefield’s drop cookie was written for a kitchen with an icebox and a wall oven. Two things had to change for camp. Butter and egg both come out, replaced by oil for fat and powdered milk for the browning and body the egg used to supply. Oil-based dough spreads more and stays chewy longer, which is fine here; it also mixes cold, so nothing has to soften.
The heat is the part worth attention. Coals on top and coals underneath is what makes a Dutch oven an oven instead of a skillet, and the ratio matters more than the count. Roughly twice as many on the lid as below keeps the bottoms from burning before the tops set. Pull them early. They finish on the plate.
Packing
Combine flour, both sugars, baking soda, salt, and milk powder in one bag at home. Chocolate chips and walnuts go in a second bag so they do not get crushed into the flour. Oil and vanilla ride in leakproof bottles inside a ziplock.
Variations
- Skip the walnuts entirely if anyone in camp has a nut allergy. The dough does not need them.
- Chop a semisweet bar instead of using chips, the way the original called for. The pieces melt into streaks rather than staying round.
- No Dutch oven: press the dough into a greased foil pan, cover with foil, and set it on a grill grate over low coals for about 20 minutes.
https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/leonco/2026/07/08/a-bite-of-history-chocolate-chip-cookie