Camp cooking: dutch oven apple cobbler made using Mello Yello

As spring begins to push its way through the last remnants of winter, some folks will begin to turn their thoughts to getting back into the outdoors. For a lot of people, that means grabbing the tents, sleeping bags, and camp cooking gear and heading to the woods as soon as possible. 

Dutch Oven Desserts

One of the best parts about camp cooking is baking a super-simple cobbler in a dutch oven. Just dump the ingredients in, set the coals, and kick back until the cobbler is ready. This recipe will explain how to build a fool proof dutch oven apple cobbler using Mello Yello.

Ingredients

• 2 cans apple pie filling
• 1 box spice cake mix
• 1 can Mello Yello

Equipment

• dutch oven
• parchment paper/aluminum foil (optional)
• charcoal (or coals from the campfire)
• metal tongs (for the coals)

Directions

Prep the Dutch Oven

Even though baking in a dutch oven is easy as can be, you can end up with a big mess if you don’t prepare the dutch oven first. Always make sure that your cast iron cookware is properly seasoned before cooking anything in it. See how here. 

To make clean up even easier, line the dutch oven with parchment paper or aluminum foil. After you’ve eaten all the cobbler, simply lift the liner and toss it. You’ll have very little dutch oven cleaning to do.

Prep the Coals

One of the most common mistakes when using a dutch oven for camp cooking is getting the food together before the coals are ready. If you’re using charcoal, you’ll want 24-25 coals ready to go when you add the ingredients to the dutch oven. If you’re using coals from the fire, make sure that you have an equivalent amount.

Assemble the Dutch Oven Apple Cobbler

Add the two cans of pie filling to the dutch oven first. Next add sprinkle the cake mix evenly over the top of the filling. Take your time on this step to insure even coverage and no big heaps of cake mix. Pour the Mello Yello very slowly and evenly over the top of all of the cake mix. You should not have any dry spots when you’re finished.

Bake the Cobbler

Place 9-10 hot coals evenly spread beneath the dutch oven. Place 15-16 hot coals evenly over the lid. Cook for approximately 35 minutes or until the cake mix is set. Avoid the temptation to check for doneness early; you’ll let out the heat and slow the baking.