Microwaveable Chocolate Cake

A literal cupcake, this has become my 'go-to" recipe

whenever I want something chocolaty. It is fast and easy to make and better yet, involves little clean-up. This recipe has a minimal amount of sugar (helpful for fighting off the freshman 15) so the chocolate flavor can be a bit weak. To enhance the chocolate flavor without adding more sugar, I simply substitute a few tablespoons of cocoa powder for the hot chocolate mix. During midterm or finals week, when I am stressed out and up late studying, I take a 10 minute break to make this treat and satisfy my chocolate cravings.

Ingredients:
4 tbsp. flour 

9 tbsp hot chocolate mix

3 tbsp water
3 tbsp oil
1 egg

Instructions:

In a standard sized mug, combine all ingredients and mix until it becomes a batter. Make sure to completely stir in the egg and to stir slowly so as to avoid spilling ingredients. Microwave the mug for 3 minutes on high. 

No Bake Chocolate Cookies

When a friend of mine, who goes to school far from home, began to feel homesick, I decided to send her a care package to cheer her up. What is more comforting than a homemade treat? Along with a few other things, I included theses tasty chewy, chocolate cookies, which are her favorite. Making these cookies took almost no time out of my busy schedule. I was able to make the dough, shape the cookies on the wax paper, and clean up my few dishes in about a half hour. Though I had to wait an hour before packaging them up, this time allowed me to throw in a load of laundry and to finish my chem homework.

 

Ingredients:

2 c. white sugar

makes about 24 cookies

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder 

1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. butter

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract 

1 pinch of salt

1/2 c. peanut butter

3 c. instant oats

Instructions:

Combine the cocoa, milk, sugar, and butter into a saucepan over medium heat. Heat this mixture until it comes to a boil (remember to stir it occasionally to prevent it from burning and sticking to the pot). Let it boil for a minute and then remove from the heat. Stir in the oats, vanilla, salt, & peanut butter. Quickly drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a piece of wax paper or onto a lightly greased baking pan or plate. Let the cookies cool for an hour and then eat and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies

        I always have a jar of peanut butter on hand. Like ramen noodles, a PB & J sandwich is a cheap staple to my college diet. With only three ingredients, these cookies are incredibly quick and simple to make. I originally found this recipe when searching for something to bake for my friend who has an allergy to gluten (the binging agent in flour). Usually food without flour is dry and crumbly, but these cookies are soft, moist, and incredibly flavorful. The only problem with these cookies is that once you eat one, you won't want to stop!                                                                    

Makes a dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. peanut butter 

1 c. sugar
1 egg

Instructions:

In a medium sized bowl, thoroughly mix together all three ingredients. Make sure that all of the sugar is completely mixed with the peanut butter. Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a lightly greased baking pan. These cookies will spread a little bit so be sure to leave space between the balls of dough. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 325 degrees.

Banana Cupcakes

makes about 12 cupcakes

Worried about the freshman fifteen, yet still want a yummy treat? These banana cupcakes are just the thing! They are an easy way to incorporate fruit into your diet while still eating a treat. There is no butter in this recipe and only a minimal amount of sugar. I always make these cupcakes when I have an overly ripe banana; I often take a banana from my dining hall but sometimes forget to eat it. To avoid the guilt of wasting food by throwing away my banana, I use it to make these cupcakes. If I have nuts or chocolate chips on hand, I toss a few into the batter to add some extra flavor and texture.

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients:
3 c. flour
1 c. sugar

1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3 mashed bananas
1 tbsp oil

1c. & 2 tbsp milk

Instructions:
In a medium size bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, & nutmeg. To this mixture slowly add the vanilla, oil, milk, and bananas. Mix together until just combined. It is ok to have a few lumps in the batter. Grease a pan or line a cupcake tin and bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

* frosting often requires an electric mixer to make, so I just stick to canned frosting.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie? They are soft, chewy, and chocolaty; delicious by themselves or with a glass of cold milk. I often bake them on the weekend and save them in a tupperware to snack on throughout the week. They are the perfect reward for a long day studying! Most chocolate chip cookie recipes include brown sugar, but I try to avoid buying it because it is not often used and dries out quickly. It would be a waste of money to buy brown sugar for just one recipe and then let it sit on the shelf for weeks. This recipe replaces brown sugar with just a bit of honey (which I get for free from my dining hall) to give these cookies the same deep, rich flavor that brown sugar provides.

Ingredients:

makes about 30 cookies

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
1 c. white sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 ¼ c. butter or margarine

Instructions:
Thoroughly combine the butter, honey, and sugar. Melting the butter a little bit will make this easier to do.Then, stir in the eggs and vanilla. Next, add the flour and baking soda; stir these in slowly to avoid flour from spilling out of the bowl. Lastly, add chocolate chips. Add the instructed amount first and then add more if you want to.Place small spoonfuls of dough onto a lightly greased pan. Make sure to leave about 2 inches of space between the balls of dough because the cookies will spread while baking. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Applesauce Cookies

At the end of the fall quarter, everyone was scrambling to use up their perishable food before going home for the winter break. My friend practically lives off of applesauce and had two large jars of it with only a few days left before break. Since we had both already finished our finals, we spent our time searching for ways to use the applesauce and stumbled across this delicious and healthy recipe. Applesauce is an unusual baking ingredient and we were hesitant about using it, but these cookies were absolutely amazing! They are moist, dense, and cakey. For fun, we decided to jazz them up a bit and melted some canned frosting in the microwave and drizzled it over the top. This recipe made a lot of cookies, so we went to everyone's room and gave them a much needed treat while they studied for finals.

makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

1 c. applesauce

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

2 c. flour

1 c. raisins (optional)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions:

In a bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients. Then drop equal sized spoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Classic Brownies

Ingredients:

makes about 20 brownies

1 stick of butter
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. nuts (optional)        


Instructions:
 Melt the butter over low heat in a saucepan and add cocoa. Next, mix the sugar and eggs together and then add them to to mixture in the saucepan.  Then add flour, baking powder, vanilla, and nuts to the mixture. Grease an 8x8 inch pan and bake in an oven for 20-30 minutes at 325 degrees.

Brownies are my favorite baked treat and I have made them several times already this year. These brownies are dense (but not fudgy) and rich in chocolate flavor. Nothing compares to the heavenly scent that fills the kitchen while these are baking. All it takes to make theses incredible brownies is to melt some of the ingredients in a pot, stir in the remaining ingredients, and then pour the batter into a pan. It almost seems unfair to have such a reward for so little effort (not that I'm complaining). A  boxed brownie mix is no rival for this recipe!