Dutch Oven Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Bars

These Dutch Oven Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Bars are easy to bake while camping using briquettes. A buttery chocolate cookie, perfectly balanced with peppermint, makes a delicious camping dessert. Let’s get started!

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What is a cookie bar, you ask?

It’s one large cookie that you cut into individual bars. When camping, this is a great way to enjoy freshly baked cookies using the dutch oven!

Cookie bars are one of my favorite dutch oven desserts. They’re quick and easy to make, thanks to a little prep at home. Also, what’s not to love about a warm cookie?

I like to make the cookie dough a day or two ahead of time at home and store it tightly wrapped in the cooler.

When a cookie craving strikes at camp, press the cookie dough into your dutch oven and bake! I line my dutch oven with parchment paper to make cleanup a breeze.

This cookie dough is perfect if you love the combo of chocolate and peppermint. The brown butter makes these cookies extra decadent. It adds depth and richness.

The mint is not overpowering and the texture is perfect. You’re going to love them!

Ingredient Highlight:

This cookie recipe uses basic cookie ingredients that you likely already have on hand, except for the chocolate.

For this recipe, I strongly recommend using Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark bars (not sponsored). This chocolate gives the perfect balance of peppermint, and it looks really pretty.

Unfortunately, this chocolate is hard to find year-round. But, it’s easy to find in stores around Christmas. So, these are great holiday cookie bars!

I prefer to buy the full chocolate bars and chop them up. But, you can also buy the individual squares if they’re on sale or easier to find.

If you can’t find the Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark, you can try using another brand of peppermint chocolate.

This recipe is written for a 10-inch diameter dutch oven.

A larger dutch oven will produce cookies that are too thin and cook much faster, so it’s best to use a 10-inch dutch oven for this. I use the Camp Chef 10-inch dutch oven.

Want to bake these cookies at home instead?

No problem! Follow the instructions for making the cookie dough. Roll the dough into balls and chill them on a cookie sheet for 1-2 hours. Bake them at 350°F for about 14-18 minutes, depending on how large your dough balls are.

Let the cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

More Dutch Oven Dessert Recipes to Try:

• The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
• Dutch Oven Peanut Butter Brownies
• Dutch Oven Blackberry Peach Crisp
• Trail Mix Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Dutch Oven Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Bars

A buttery chocolate cookie, perfectly balanced with peppermint, makes a delicious camping dessert, especially around the holidays! They're crispy on the edges and chewy on the inside, plus, they bake up in less than 30 minutes with easy cleanup. These easy dutch oven cookie bars are going to be a hit on your next camping trip!

5 from 1 vote

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Servings: 16 bars

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Equipment

• 10-inch Dutch Oven
• Charcoal Chimney Starter
• Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes
• Lodge Lid Lifter

Ingredients

 

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (spoon and leveled)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 Ghirardelli peppermint bark chocolate bars (3.5 oz per bar, chopped)

Instructions

 

At Home:

• Brown the butter – Place the butter in a small pot over medium heat. Whisk the butter as it melts and starts to crackle. Mix frequently until the butter stops foaming and starts to smell nutty and you see golden bits on the bottom of the pan. Immediately transfer the butter to a large bowl. Don't walk away during this process, it can burn quickly!
• Add the sugars to the hot butter and mix well. Let the butter-sugar mixture cool for about 10 minutes.
• Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and sea salt. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well with a large spoon.
• Chop the chocolate bars and mix the chocolate pieces into the dough.
• Roll the dough tightly in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge or cooler until you're ready to bake at camp. Let the dough chill for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days in the fridge.

At Camp:

• Press the cookie dough into a 10-inch diameter dutch oven lined with parchment paper for easy cleanup.* If your cookie dough is really firm, break it into large chunks and let it warm up for a few minutes so you can more easily shape it.
• Heat the briquettes in your chimney starter.
• Bake the dough at 350°F for 24-28 minutes until the edges are puffed up and the cookie is set.** Rotate the dutch oven and lid about 180° halfway through baking to ensure it bakes evenly. Once cooked, remove the briquettes from the dutch oven, remove the lid, and let the cookie cool. It will continue to cook as it cools.
• Slice the cookie into bars and serve. If the cookies are still hot when you try to cut them, they'll break apart. As the cookie cools, it holds together much better, so try to be patient before you slice and serve. (It's hard, I know!)

Notes

*This recipe is written for a 10-inch diameter dutch oven. A larger dutch oven will produce cookies that are too thin and cook much faster, so it’s best to use a 10-inch dutch oven for this. 

**To create about 350°F in a 10-inch diameter dutch oven, you’ll need 14 briquettes on top and 7 on bottom.

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