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!
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 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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