You might not have rolled out of bed until 20 minutes before your class or you might have oodles of time to spare, but you just don’t want to spend money on ingredients for an elaborate meal. In these or similar cases, you might want to have some recipes for easy snacks you can make in the microwave. Whether you live in the dorm or are just against cooking, check out these recipes.

These are mostly intended to be an inspiration guide for the sort of creations you can make in the microwave, so feel free to give them your own pizazz.

Recipe #1: Smores

Basic ingredients: Marshmallows, graham crackers, some form of chocolate, a microwavable mug, and a microwavable bowl.

What to do:

1. Put your chocolate of choice in your microwavable bowl, as much as you want of it. Pop it in the microwave for about a minute, or as long as it takes for it to totally melt.

Photo courtesy of Stefani Chudnow

2. Take the chocolate out of the microwave, plop the marshmallow in your mug, and replace it in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds.
3. Take the mug out and drizzle the chocolate on top of the inflated marshmallow.
4. There’s a few different things you can do with your graham crackers. First, you could crumble them up and sprinkle them on top of your marshmallow-chocolate combo. A second option might be to use them as a dipping tool. Let your imagination run wild.

Recipe #2: Pizza Bites

Basic ingredients: Spaghetti/pizza sauce, shredded or sliced cheese, crackers (I used Wheat Thins in hopes of making pizza healthier), your choice of topping, a microwavable plate, a spoon.

What to do:

1. Lay out your crackers on the plate. Take a spoonful of spaghetti sauce and layer it on the cracker. You could also place an additional layer of cheese before putting the sauce on the cracker.
2. Put a thin layer of cheese on top of the sauce. Don’t use too much, otherwise it will spill over to the sides and make a bit of a mess. Sprinkle whatever other toppings you want on the bite, but be gentle, they’re small.

Photo courtesy of Stefani Chudnow

3. Put the plate of bites in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds, which should be long enough to melt the cheese.
4. If you want, add a cracker on top of your concoction to make a sandwich.

Recipe #3: Cinnamon-Apple Dessert

Basic ingredients: A good baking apple (Fuji or Granny Smith, not Red Delicious), cinnamon, microwavable bowl, microwavable plate, a knife.

What to do:

1. Wash your apple. Then, cut it up into halves, quarters, or small pieces.
2. Put your apple in the bowl and sprinkle it with cinnamon. You can add sugar and/or additional spices if you feel adventurous, but it’s not a must.
3. Cover the bowl with a plate and pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes.
4. After baking, your bowl and plate will be hot so be careful when handling them.
5. Stir your apple around, and then you’ve got a low-calorie apple dessert.

Recipe #4: Chocolate Covered Anything

Basic ingredients: Whatever you want to drizzle in chocolate, chocolate of your choice, a microwavable bowl, and some kind of skewer if you feel it’s necessary

What to do:

1. Wash your fruit if that’s what you’re using, lay your snacks out on a plate. Arrange your chocolate in your microwaveable bowl.
2. Take your chocolate bowl and place it in the microwave for about a minute, or as long as it takes to completely melt. It may take more like a minute and a half.
3. Once the chocolate is melted, put your food on a skewer or simply dip it in your chocolate.
4. You can leave your chocolate to harden if you so choose, but if you’re up for a messy snack go right ahead and immediately enjoy.

Photo courtesy of Stefani Chudnow

Like any recipe, the above are up to your own interpretations. Be creative! Let us know what did (or didn’t) work in the comments.

Vaughn Springer