Back when Jarrett was a counselor at a boys’ camp, two of the standing desserts they would fix on overnight backpacking trips was Angels on Horseback and a fruity campfire cobbler. This recipe is intended to bake in a cast iron dutch oven—and yes, Jarrett used to have to backpack with that weighty piece of cooking gear.
This isn’t some classy, gourmet camping recipe. It’s about as simple as campfire recipes come. But the experience of creating it with our children and then enjoying a steaming bowl of it around the fire is more about tradition than sophisticated tastes.
The fun part of this recipe is that it can be modified and tweaked to your family’s tastes. The ingredients we’ve included will create a half peach and half cherry dessert, but you could easily double the peach or cherry portions if you prefer one fruit over the other. Or, you could even swap in something like blueberry pie filling (I have a great homemade recipe that is so simple to prepare and so delicious you’ll never buy canned again). Essentially, you can take the bones of this recipe and make it your own.
Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 large can of sliced peaches (undrained)
1 large can of cherry pie filling (undrained)
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 c of brown sugar (optional)
Prepare your dutch oven by coating it with cooking spray or oil of your choice. If we are making a two-variety cobbler, Jarrett creates a foil divider:
Dump the can of cherries on one side and the can of peaches on the other.
Sprinkle the box of cake mix evenly over both sides. Cut pats of butter and evenly distribute those over the cake mix. If you are using the brown sugar, sprinkle it evenly over both sides. The brown sugar makes the dessert sweeter and creates a crusty topping.
Cover with the lid and cook at approximately 350 degrees, which we have found to be about 10 briquettes below and 16 briquettes on top. (Need more info on dutch oven cooking? Click over here.) After 20 minutes, check to see if the fruit juices are bubbling up through—which means it is cooking at the right temperature. If not, you will probably need to add more briquettes to increase the temperature.
The cobbler is finished when there is no longer any dry areas of cake mix and the top is golden brown. Serve warm—with a little dollop of vanilla ice cream (or whipped cream) if you have a way to bring ice cream in a freezer.
Enjoy!
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