Quick and easy (really easy) microwave desserts

I just want to say, for the record, that these desserts will not be something you can post on Pinterest. There are no mug cakes with about 20 separate ingredients, no cinnamon rolls that require you to knead your own dough beforehand. I haven’t got time for that, and I know you probably don’t either. These recipes are quick, easy and delicious (I promise!), and all I ask is that you have a microwave, and occasionally a fridge, to hand. The only downside is that they are incredibly simple – but who needs complex when they’re scoffed in about six seconds flat?

To make all of these desserts, you’d need to buy:

• A pack of marshmallows: 90p
• A pack of wafers: 70p
• A packet of cornflakes: £1.05p
• A pack of Oreos: £1
• A pack of cookies (I got Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference because you really can taste the difference): £1.50
• 3 bars of milk chocolate or the equivalent in chocolate buttons: £3
• Milk (if you steal from your flatmates it’ll be free)

But pick and choose what interests you! My measurements are not specific (because this is borderline goblin-food) so they can be adjusted depending on taste.

1) S’MORES

Ingredients

• Two wafers
• One marshmallow
• Two squares of chocolate (or two chocolate buttons)

Recipe

1. Lay out one of the wafers on a plate.
2. Place the marshmallow on top, in the centre of the wafer, with the two chocolate squares on either side.
3. Balance the second wafer precariously on top (it will get stuck to the marshmallow in the microwave later)
4. Pop it in the oven for 30 seconds.

You’re done! Fit as many as you can on one plate, and you can have an American-style campfire with your flatmates (how to make fire not included in this article).

2) CORNFLAKE CAKES

Ingredients

• Half a bar of chocolate
• Half a cup of cornflakes

My personal favourites! I’ve made these about 5 more times after first trying them out: they’re insanely easy to do and look semi-professional, so you can feel good about yourself. The chocolate-cornflake ratio really depends on your taste, but too gooey and it’ll get stuck to the tray (which is a pain to pry off, believe me) – too little and the cornflakes won’t stick together!

Recipe

1. Put the chocolate into a bowl, broken up into even-ish chunks (otherwise it won’t melt properly).
2. Pop it in the microwave for 1 minute.
3. Take it out. You’ll still see some semi-solid chunks, but that’s fine – just stir it and stab it with a fork until the consistency is smooth. Don’t put it back in, because the chocolate will burn, and the whole gyp will smell like burnt chocolate, and it will be your fault. Do you need that on your conscience?
4. Once the chocolate is melted, tip in your cornflakes and mix until they’re completely basted and you can’t see a single spot of yellow.

This is where you might find yourselves at a crossroads. Sometimes I get too lazy to do the next step, and just spoon the chocolate-cornflake mix into my mouth while hunched next to the microwave. If you want to do that, that’s valid, and I respect it. But, if you want to make a slightly more legitimate dessert…

1. Spoon a generous portion of the mix onto a separate plate/tray, (preferably a bite-sized lump). Do this until the mix is finished. Try not to let the individual blobs touch eachother.
2. Put the plate in the fridge so the chocolate can set. It’s set perfectly as early as 5 minutes for me, but if you want to be sure, let it chill (haha) in the fridge for about 10.
3. Take them out, pry them off the plate, and pop them in a bowl/straight in your mouth!

3) OREO MUG CAKE

Ingredients

• Half a cup of milk
• A decent handful of Oreos (anywhere between 7-10)

Yes, I know I said no mug cakes. But come on – only two ingredients?! I’ll admit, I got this recipe from TikTok, (I miss Vine), and I was not expecting it to work. But it actually does, and I need to tell people about it.

Recipe

1. Have your mug half-filled with milk.
2. Tip your Oreos into the milk-filled mug.
3. Smash the Oreos with a fork until the consistency of the mix is paste-like and brown. If it’s watery, there’s too much milk, and you might have to add more Oreos to compensate.
4. Put it in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds.
5. That’s literally it. The mug cake should look like the pictures above: a spongy, cake-like texture that tastes exactly like Oreos!

4) CHOC-CHIP MESS

Ingredients

• One store-bought choc-chip cookie (the soft type, not Marylands!)
• A handful of chocolate buttons
• A SPLASH of milk (too much milk = soggy disaster)

This is really me just throwing junk food together and seeing what happens. This recipe can be done with one or two cookies depending on how much calorie-loading you want to do, but the more the merrier!

Recipe

1. Put your cookie in a bowl.
2. Sprinkle chocolate buttons over it for that extra choc-chip goodness.
3. Pour your (incredibly small amount of) milk into the bowl, preferably over the centre of the cookie. This will soften the cookie and it’ll become even more gooey in the microwave.
4. Cook it in the microwave for 1 minute!
5. If you want to be more ambitious, add another cookie and even more chocolate buttons after Step 3 for a layered-cookie effect.
6. Enjoy the sugar rush!

See, who even needs an oven these days?

If you try out any of these recipes, or have other cool dessert ideas, let The Tab (aka: ME please) know! I had a 4/5 success rate with mine: my idea of hot-chocolate-powder-popcorn went absolutely nowhere. Shocker, I know.

All photo credits to the author.