The lure of cast iron

dutch oven goodness

The weather in Oregon cleared just enough to warrant a camping trip.  We hedged our bets and fled to north central Oregon, where Mt. Hood kindly parted the clouds enough that we all got some color.  Camping junkie that I am, I had enough tents, mattress pads and cooking equipment to outfit our hardy band of pioneers.  We know enough to plan our trip around our stomachs.  The food was spectacular.  I got to show off with two dutch oven desserts.  Friday night was “Death by Chocolate” a dump cake derivative that is still not perfected.  Saturday was Cherry Cobbler.  It was sublime.  We brought whipped cream to top it.  The cobbler lasted about 15 minutes.  Here are the details:

• 2 7.75 oz. pkgs Bisquick Honey Butter Biscuit mix
• 21 oz. can of cherry pie filling

That’s it.  2 ingredients.  Start by heating coals.  I use 16 on the top of my 8 qt. dutch oven and 9 on the bottom.  I start the coals in a charcoal chimney.  Preheat the dutch oven by setting it on top of the chimney.  Pour the cherry pie filling into the dutch oven (still sitting on the chimney).   The recipes I saw online suggested that the topping won’t bake completely if the pie filling isn’t warm when you start.  Just keep an eye on it because it will get hot on that chimney and scorch the cherries.  Remove if it starts bubbling.

While the coals were heating, I opened both packages of biscuit mix and emptied them into a 1 gal ziploc bag, along with 1 cup of water.  I sealed the bag and kneaded until the mix was dough.  Open the bag and spoon out the dough onto the cherry pie filling, leaving a little room between dumplings for the filling to peak through.  Place the lid on your dutch oven and divide the coals as described above.  If your coal count is the same as mine, your cobbler will be perfectly browned in 20 minutes if you leave the lid on and don’t check it.  Serve with whipped cream if you have it.