Baking Over A Campfire...or

Nothing says lovin’ like somethin’ from the DUTCH OVEN.

While camping in the Adirondacks at the Sacandaga Camp Ground my sister does all the cooking and I do all the baking. There is a difference. I hate to cook but love to bake and so she lets me – bake that is.

I usually take mixes that need just water or maybe an egg and some milk. If we don’t have fresh milk we always have powdered for baking. I shop at the bulk food store here in Canada for dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. We keep them in Baggies; in the box in the trunk labeled “baking” which holds all things needed like Pam spray, canola oil, and what ever else we planned on our food list.

(Trunk, you say?) – Yes we’re lazy and old so we like camping at a state campground where your vehicle is just 25 feet away and stores all your food, keep your clothes dry and is handy if you get scared because of a thunderstorm or bears. – Just kidding about the thunderstorms and bears. We stand up tall to those kinds of things like troopers.

However, let me digress, this summer we had a heat wave and my sister just mentioned how we never appreciate air conditioning until we don’t have it! We took off in my van, air conditioning on high and drove our garbage and recycle to the recycle center instead of walking…then we proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes in the freezing van driving around the park – boy, did that feel good. (Ok, back to baking…)

I’m the first up in the morning so I make the coffee in our bodum (French Press coffee maker), brew the tea in a thermos and start a fire. The fire is usually to heat water to wash last night’s dishes we were too lazy to do in the dark so they lived in the van all night too.

Then if the mood hits, I bake. This day I baked a breakfast cake out of a low fat carrot muffin mix, with a hand full of gorp, some chopped up dried apricots, pineapple and chopped pecans tossed in and it was ready. (We chop on the plastic chopping mat you see in the dishpan – dollar store 4 for $1.)

I have already put a metal trivet in the Dutch oven (to keep the baking off the bottom of the pan), lined the pot with heavy-duty foil and sprayed it with Pan. It’s been sitting on the edge of the fireplace to start to heat. I bring the pan to the table and pour the muffin mixture into the foil. I make sure the lid is on tight and set it over the fire (I haven’t had much luck putting the pan right into the coals – my way is slower but with less burning).

It would normally take a half-hour in your oven at home, but over a fire it take probably 45 min to an hour. I turn the Dutch oven several time during cooking and check it when I think it should be done or when I can smell the heavenly aroma. I know its done when I touch it with my finger and my finger doesn’t stick into it.

Usually by now, my sister is awake and is having her first coffee and we’re ready for breakfast.

While we enjoy our breakfast cake we also enjoy watching our pet critter get into the dishpan we keep by the fireplace during the day. I put the cutting mat, the bowl I used to mix in and the spatula, spoon and knife in the dishpan.