With the holidays coming up, it’s a great time to start thinking of ways to bake sweet treats. With limited space and a lack of kitchen appliances in the dorms, it may seem difficult to bake like you would at home, but it is possible. If you’ve got a microwave or a toaster oven, here are some desserts you can test out this holiday season.
Baking in a Microwave
On Pinterest alone, there are tons of recipes for mug brownies, cakes, cookies, cobblers, muffins, cinnamon rolls, donuts and more. Apart from mug recipes, you can also make pudding, cheesecake, fudge and even brittle. A microwave recipe perfect for the holidays, especially during fall, is mug apple pie.
Mug Apple Pie
Ingredients
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tablespoons apple sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons diced apples
2 teaspoons streusel (1/2 tsp. flour, 1/2 tsp. butter, 1 tsp. brown sugar)
Directions
- Mix the dry ingredients, except the streusel and apples, in a large mug.
- Add apple sauce and mix until wet.
- Add milk and diced apples and mix.
- Cook on high in a microwave for 1 minute.
- Top with streusel.
Baking in a Toaster Oven
While microwavable recipes are more single-serving, there are a few recipes you can make in a toaster oven and share them with others. For the most part, six-cup muffin pans fit inside toaster ovens, and with that, you can make cupcakes and muffins by following the recipe and instructions for a regular conventional oven. Toaster oven baking is not limited to just cupcakes and muffins though. You could also make cookies, s’mores, mini pies, donuts, brownies and so much more. For example, one easy, shareable toaster oven treat is S’mores Bites.
S’mores Bites
Ingredients
6 graham cracker sheets (or as many as you wish)
6 large marshmallows (enough to fit your crackers)
12 Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped (enough to top your crackers)
Directions
- Break graham cracker sheets in half.
- Using clean scissors (or a clean knife) cut each marshmallow into 2 halves.
- Heat oven to low broil.
- Align graham crackers in the center of a cookie sheet about 1/2″ apart from each other.
- Top each graham cracker with a marshmallow with the cut/sticky side down.
- Place marshmallow-topped graham crackers under broiler. Watch them closely as they will toast quickly. Allow them to toast until golden, rotating pan with oven mitt as needed.
- Once golden, immediately remove from oven, place 1 Hershey’s Kiss in the center of each toasted marshmallow and gently press down. For best results serve warm, just like a real S’more.
Baking treats for loved ones and for yourself is always fun and sweet. It’s a great way to get creative and let out your inner pâtissier. Don’t let limited space and equipment stop you from feeding your sweet tooth this holiday season. Try out some recipes right in your dorm.
