Easy baked dutch oven chocolate chip cookie dessert. Photo submitted by Laura Fallon.
Close your eyes and imagine eating a fresh-baked Dutch oven chocolate chip cookie dessert on evening six of your Grand Canyon raft adventure. Your skin is sun kissed after a long day floating down the Colorado River. Your legs are exhausted from the awesome slot canyon hike earlier that day. Nevertheless, you patiently sit on the beach waiting for the conch shell horn to sound; the signal that dinner is ready. Then you smell it… the fragrance is so familiar you can taste it. The aroma reminds you of your grandmother’s kitchen and you are perplexed by the smells teasing your senses. Could it be? Chocolate chip cookies?
Yes! One of the most popular dessert nights on a raft trip with Arizona Raft Adventures is the famous and oh so delicious Dutch oven chocolate chip cookie dessert, also referred to as “The Big Cookie.” It is a simple recipe but cooking in the backcountry is never easy! Please give credit to the creative and talented river guides. They lead adventure by day and wear a chef’s hat in the evening. They effortlessly whip out delicious and savory dinners and desserts for 25 people. In fact, would you like to learn? Well, come to the kitchen on chocolate chip cookie dessert evening and you can help too!
Ingredients and Supplies:
| 14” Dutch oven – grease with cooking oil
3 packages of Ghirardelli dark chocolate chip cookie mix 3 eggs ½ lb butter, soft 16-21 charcoal briquettes |
Prepare briquettes, mix ingredients and grease the Dutch oven pot. Photo submitted by Laura Fallon.
Heat the briquettes until they are grey-white in color. Grease the Dutch oven with cooking oil. Next, prepare the batter and stir the cookie mix, eggs and butter in bowl. Then press the batter into the bottom of the greased Dutch oven. Cover with the lid. Place 4-6 briquettes, evenly spaced, on a fire safe surface and set the Dutch oven over the briquettes. Place 12-15 briquettes evenly spaced on the lid. The cookie bakes in about 30 minutes. Here is a tip. It is usually done about the same time you begin to smell it.
River guide skillfully pats the cookie batter in the Dutch oven. Photo submitted by Laura Fallon.
Voila! Dutch oven oooey gooey chocolaty goodness at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Previous guests of Arizona Raft Adventures claim again and again that they are fed better on their raft adventure than they eat at home!
Furthermore, check out easy camping recipes for the Dutch oven or other recipes from an Arizona Raft Adventures Grand Canyon raft adventure like the Green Chili Casserole.
Chocolate chip cookies at the bottom of the Grand Canyon cooked by Dutch oven.
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5 Comments. Leave new
This cookie was served to us after the 3rd rainy day on the river. We were precariously camped under a narrow ledge and the kitchen had just washed out after a long day on the river. Things were looking pretty bleak when all of a sudden the river guides appeared bearing chocolate chip cookies warm from the DO! At that moment I remember thinking, “This is worth every penny!!!”
I just saw this article and I can’t wait to try this cookie recipe with my Boy Scout Troop.
Hope it turns out delicious, Brian! Should definitely be popular with a Boy Scout Troop. 🙂
Trying this with our Boy Scout Troop this weekend!
So fun! We’d love to hear how it turned out!