A long standing tradition in Troop 285 is to serve cobbler at cracker barrels (end-of-the-evening snack around the campfire). It has always been popular, and lots of the Troop's members have learned how to make it. It is easy to make on any campout and I encourage scouts to give it a try. Here is how it is done.
Ingredients:
Fruit that we have used successfully in the past includes peaches, cherries, cherry pie filling, pineapple, blueberries, and apple pie filling. All have been tasty. A real treat can sometimes be had by mixing two fruit flavors.
A cast iron Dutch oven is needed to bake the cobbler. Find one that is 12" diameter, and 5" deep. Aluminum ovens and aluminum lids do not hold heat well enough for this technique. Grease the oven with some butter, or line the oven with a large sheet of aluminum foil (makes it very easy to clean up afterward!)
The fruit is placed in the bottom of the buttered dutch oven and covered with the dry cake mix. If you are using whole peaches, you may want to cut them into bite-size pieces. About half of the juice should be drained off if using fruit packed in syrup. Cut the butter in 1/2" thick pieces and scatter it over the top of the cake mix.
The major task in preparing the cobbler is baking. At least 1 1/2 hours should be allowed to start the charcoal and bake the cobbler. Use premium quality commercial charcoal. Experience using local wood to make coals or to build fires directly on top of Dutch ovens shows that it is difficult to obtain reproducible results. Charcoal of poor quality can also make the task more difficult . Using a charcoal-starting chimney to get the charcoal well lit is helpful. When all of the coals are well started (light gray all over) put about 9 briquets onto dry, cleared ground and place the Dutch oven over them. About 12 briquets should be placed on the top of the Dutch oven. If working on wet or snow covered ground, clear the snow or ground cover to bare dirt, and place a small piece of corrugated tin on the ground to keep the charcoal dry and hot. Baking will take about 45 minutes. Check at 30 minutes. The cobbler is finished when the cake is a deep golden brown over the top and the juice from the fruit bubbles through the crust. Baking over a camp fire is much harder to do, as the fire is often too hot and burns the cobbler. It's important to put more charcoal on the top than the bottom (heat from the coals travels up!)
If you have lots of people to feed (more than twelve) you can do a double recipe in one 12" Dutch oven - just double the ingredients. Baking may take a bit longer in this case
contributed by
Dick Heckman
Last Updated: 2/8/1998 - drcoles