Dutch Oven Apple Crisp

Among the various things I like to do, you can include camping. There have been weekends where I camp and I eat nothing but canned and other pre-prepared foods, and there have been weekends I whip up batches of chili and roast whole rabbits. There is just something about cooking over an open fire.

So, as one of my first camping based recipes, I figured I would share a dessert… cause that’s always the best part of the meal, right?

Apple crisp is an easy item to make, but ends up tasting like you slaved away at it.

Ingredients

1-1/2 sticks of butter
1 pound brown sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon
9 oz quick oats
4 pounds apples
1/4 water

Core and slice the apples. If you have a vac-sealer, you can do this ahead of time at home, just dip the apple slices in lemon juice to keep them from browning. Layer the apple slices in the bottom of a 12-inch dutch oven. For a bit of a different flavor, try substituting sliced pears for 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of the apples.

Mix the cinnamon, oats, and brown sugar with your hands in a separate bowl until well mixed (or do so at home and keep in a zip-lock bag). You want the mix to be fine and crumbly.

Dump the oat mix on top of the apples, evenly spread it out over the apples and push everything down firmly in the pan.

Top with sliced butter pieces and sprinkle with the water before you put the lid on. If you are using charcoal, keep about 12-14 briquettes under the dutch oven and about 16-18 on the top – replenishing them as they burn down.

Cook for about 45-55 minutes, checking about every 10 – if it looks like it’s drying out, sprinkle a bit more water over the topping. Since it’s tough to have ice cream on hand to go with this, try bringing a can of whipped cream to top it with, or better yet, try caramel sauce. You can warm it up by putting it in a pot of water next to the fire while cooking the apple crisp.

If you want to try this at home, use a similar sized, home-type dutch oven or other covered casserole style dish. Bake it at 350 for about 40-45 minutes.