Lemon bars are a treat that instantly evoke feelings of spring and happiness. Traditional lemon bars are made by baking a pastry crust and then pouring on a layer of lemon filling, which is baked again for  about 15 minutes. Obviously, we cannot make 'real' lemon bars using just our electric kettle, but we do have a method that comes quite close. 
This recipe uses store-bought shortbread cookies (the same ones that we used for our chocolate mousse cake and our Pudding Parfait) as a base for a lemon curd. Lemon curd is made by mixing sugar, egg yolks, butter, and lemon juice over a double boiler, so we easily adapted a standard recipe. After pouring the lemon curd over the shortbread, we refrigerated the combination to make fantastic dorm room lemon bars. 
Light and refreshing they will bring a touch of sunshine to any winter's day. Have fun!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
5 teaspoons butter (<2 tablespoons) (f)
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup lemon juice (we squeezed it from lemon slices that we foraged from the drink bar)
4 shortbread cookies
Directions:
1. Wrap shortbread cookies with aluminum foil, leaving about 1/2 an inch on all edges to keep lemon curd on cookie
2. Squeeze juice from lemons
3. Combine yolk, lemon juice, and sugar in bowl of double boiler. Stir frequently until mixture thickens, and coats the back of a spoon (about 8 min)
4. Move liquid into larger bowl. Add butter, 1 tsp at a time and whisk until melted completely. 
5. Let cool and refrigerate until curd is thick
6. Pour curd over shortbread and refrigerate bars for at least a day. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy
 
Home made chocolate fudge is one of the miracles of mankind. Dense, chocolaty, and smooth- this desert is a great way to beat the depression of this grey, rainy night. 
Made with condensed milk (left over from our No-Bake Cheesecake and our Vietnamese Iced Coffee) and walnuts, this recipe is simple, but effective. 

Ingredients
:
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 5 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tablespoon butter (f)
  • 10 walnuts* (chopped)
  • splash vanilla extract
  • *walnuts may be omitted 
Directions:
1. Fold aluminum foil into a rectangular tray
3. Combine chocolate, condensed milk, and butter in bowl of double boiler
4. Stir until all ingredients are melted and mixture is smooth
5. Add in vanilla and walnuts
6. Stir together and pour in prepared aluminum foil
7. Sprinkle with walnuts and refrigerate
 
The only thing better than a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie is chocolate chip cookie dough. Who doesn't love a spoonful of raw cookie dough? Now, imagine that spoonful covered in melted chocolate! Win? We think so.
This recipe is designed to be eaten raw, so we eliminated the eggs from traditional cookie dough, and added condensed milk left over from our no-bake cheesecake
Ingredients (makes 16 balls)
  • 1/4 cup softened butter (f)
  • generous 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup condensed milk
  • 1/2 pack (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup milk or dark chocolate for dipping balls
Instructions:

 1. Mix butter and sugar.
 2. Add vanilla
 3. Mix in 1/2 cup flour
 4. Add condensed milk
 5. Mix in remaining 1/2 cup flour
 6. Stir in chocolate chips
 7. Spoon into balls and refrigerate 3 hours
 8. Melt dipping chocolate in double boiler
 9. Drop dough ball in chocolate, and cover
10. Cool until chocolate shell hardens

 
Marshmallows and Rice Krispie cereal. Two ingredients that combine to make one of the most nostalgic snacks in the world. Every child loves to mix gooey melted marshmallows with crunchy cereal, and quite a few college students enjoy it, too. 
This is one of the most simple recipes on our blog, so feel free to get creative by adding various ingredients to the melted marshmallows. We tried out  peanut butter-cranberry Rice Krispie treats (the middle treat in the stack shown above) along with the original recipe.
Ingredients (makes a 4' by 4' bar or 9 small cubes)
-1 cup mini marshmallows
-1 cup Rice Krispies (f)
Directions:
 1. Melt half of marshmallows in double boiler
 2. Add remaning marshmallows, and stir until smooth
 3. Mix melted marshmallows into Rice Kirspies
 4. Spoon into square tupperware (lined with aluminum foil)
 5. Let sit 10 mins, until cool
Variation peanut butter-cranberry:
Add 2 tablespoons peanut butter to melted marshmallows, and mix in 1 tablespoon dried cranberry when combining ingredients. 
 

Finals period is an odd time on every college campus. Every day is a 15 hour stretch with nothing to do except study, nap, and worry about the impending doom of finals. But in all honesty, who can really study non-stop all day long? Not us! 

Instead, we are going to take advantage of this finals period to take a shot at some of the more time consuming recipes that we've been thinking about.
This is a recipe for a refrigerator chocolate mousse cake. It is rather involved, because you need to whip eggs, whites, and cream. But the results are well worth the time involved. With shortbread cookies for the crust, and a delicious chocolate filling, this cake is a perfect way to spend your study break :)

Ingredients
  • 6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3 tbsp coffee (very dark)
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped
  • about 12 short bread cookies
                                                                  Instructions:
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1. Line three round containers with aluminum foil and then line those with the cookies; we used shortbread that was to thick to leave much room for the mouse, so we shaved them down a bit.
2. Place the chocolate in a double boiler and melt.
3. Beat egg yolks until they lighten in color and then beat in sugar.
4. Add the vanilla, coffee, and melted chocolate, beat until combined.

5. Beat the egg-whites until they hold peaks.
6. Fold in the whites until combined.
7. Whip the heavy cream and fold them in.
8. Pour the mouse into the cookie-lined containers and refrigerate.
 
Holidays and truffles go hand in hand. Assorted truffles are the perfect party favor, present, or desert for your dorm mates! Most truffles have a creamy ganache center, and are dipped in a hard layer of chocolate casing, which can be decorated however you choose. Ganache is made by heating heavy cream, and stirring it into finely chopped milk or dark chocolate. The ganache is cooled, then formed into balls and dipped in pure melted chocolate. This recipe is time consuming, but fun. It's a great study break for you and your friends on a holiday night!
Directions:
 1. Chop chocolate very finely. Put in large bowl.
 2.  Bring cream to a boil in the double boiler
 2. Pour cream over chocolate, stir until chocolate is melted.
 3. Refrigerate bowl of ganache about 30 mins
 4. Using two spoons, form ganache into balls 
 5. Refrigerate balls overnight
 6. Melt dark chocolate
 7. Roll ganache balls in melted chocolate, sprinkle with cocoa powder, almonds, or desired topping
 8. Chill truffles until outer shell is hard
Ingredients (makes 12 truffles):
6 oz milk chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 oz (1/2 cup chopped) dark chocolate
 
Instant oatmeal is almost a necessity for college. It is the perfect breakfast food or midnight snack, and comes in convenient variety packs at every grocery store. Unfortunately, most variety packs include the plain, unsweetened, and completely boring "regular flavor" of oatmeal. Even though it is a waste, it is just so hard to eat those "regular flavor" packs. Wasting food is not ok, so we found a recipe to finally make use of those packets of unsweetened instant oatmeal...Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies!
These are a delicious snack, and ridiculously easy to make! The ingredients are also very easy to acquire; just grab an extra pack of peanut butter from the dining hall and use some half and half from your coffee bar (ok- joking! Not everyone has a fully functioning coffee bar in their dorm room- but half and half is a great investment; it can really take coffee over the edge!) 
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Ingredients (for 8 small cookies):
  • 1/4 cup (or about 4 packets) sugar
  • 1 tablespoon butter (f)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons half and half
  • 1 pack of instant oatmeal (regular)
  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter (f)

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Instructions:
 1. Melt butter, sugar, and cream together in double boiler
 2. Mix hot liquids in a bowl with oatmeal and peanut butter
 3. Form into small balls and place on wax paper/ aluminum foil
 4. Refrigerate 1 hour

 
There are tons of no-bake cheesecake recipes online. The theory is simple: make a cream cheese filling, put it in a standard cheesecake crust, then refrigerate. The filling for regular cheesecake is made with eggs that help the cream cheese set up and become firm. However, the no-bake filling is made without eggs and is therefore much less dense. 
The flavors match a traditional cheesecake taste, but the texture is more like a pudding. So, this is the ultimate desert when you are craving something sweet and special, without the super-rich feeling of regular cheesecake. 
Ingredients:
Crust:
  • 4 old-fashioned graham crackers (or 2 full sheets of the regular brand variety)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons butter (f)
Filling:
  • 2 oz cream cheese (softened) (f)
  • 1/8 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tsp lemon juice (from about 2 lemon slices) (f)
  • 1 tbs powdered sugar
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Directions:
For crust:
 1. Crush graham crackers in a plastic bag (use flat edge of spoon)
 2. Melt butter in bowl of double boiler 
 3. Mix butter and crushed graham crackers in bowl unti crumbs stick together
 

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 4. Pour crumbs into prepared aluminum foil (we shaped the foil using a small cylindrical tupperware) and press crumbs into sides of foil. Refrigerate at least 15mins. 

Filling:

  1. Put cream cheese in a metal bowl and stir with a fork (try and fluff it up as much as possible)
  2. Add the powdered sugar and mix it in.
  3. Pour in the condensed milk and lemon juice and then stir it all together until it has a cheesecake consistency.

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4.    Pour the filling into the base and refrigerate/freeze until it hardens.



The consistency of the filling is closer to that of pudding. If frozen, it will be more firm and easier to cut. 

 
Most people have a few staple food items in their dorm rooms, like chocolate bars, peanut butter, and chocolate-hazelnut spread. We are no different. It seems only natural that our kettle double boiler should be used to create a delicious treat that combines all three flavors.
This masterpiece is modeled after a standard peanut butter cup, but the added Nutella brings in a different type of nuttiness and sweetness to the classic combination. 
This particular set of ingredients is a good mix, but if you aren't a nut person or if you want to get creative, the same method of layering chocolate can be used with any filling (ie. raspberry preserves, or roasted almonds.)
Feel free to adjust the type of chocolate, as well. We used very dark chocolate, because we are purists, but a nice hazelnut chocolate bar would go wonderfully with a Nutella filling...
Enjoy!
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Ingredients(makes 4 PeaNutella cups):
  • About 2 Cups of Melted Chocolate
  • Filling of choice, we used (4 spoons) peanut butter (f)
  • Nutella (4 dollops)
  • Aluminum Foil for the cups


Instructions:
  1. Push squares of foil into the cap of the peanut butter to form the cups
  2. Melt half of the chocolate and pour it, in even amounts, into the foil cups. Shake each cup to even out the chocolate layer

3. Place the chocolate cups in your mini-fridge/freezer until the chocolate is hard

4. Spread a spoonful of peanut butter over the chocolate and then add a layer of Nutella. Make sure to leave the edges of the chocolate uncovered.

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5. Melt the second half of your chocolate and pour it over.


6. Put all of the cups in the fridge again until cooled and then enjoy!




When made with dark chocolate, these can be a little overwhelming. This can be a wonderful thing for people who like strong, nearly dehydrating desserts. For the more standard sweet-tooth, however, we suggest using milk chocolate instead or replacing the filling, maybe with mint frosting or a fruit preserve!

 
What better way to bring in the holidays than with homemade peppermint bark? 
For those of you who don't know, peppermint bark is a treat made out of 3 types of layered chocolate (milk, white, and dark) and topped with crushed up candy canes.
The candy is very popular this time of year, and we thought it would be fantastic to find a way to create our own, dorm friendly, version. 
As an added bonus, peppermint bark is a great recipe to demonstrate the effectiveness of our double boiler method. 
So here goes...
Ingredients:
  • 3 mini candy canes (crushed)
  • 1 bar each of you favorite milk, dark, and white chocolate
  • Aluminum foil (for shaping the bark)
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Directions:

 1. Fold a sheet of aluminum foil into an open rectangular box (the base should be as long as the original chocolate bars, and just a bit wider)

 2. Break up the milk chocolate and place it in your double boiler

 3. Stir the chocolate as it melts, keeping it over the kettle until there are no more chunks

 4. Pour into aluminum foil and spread evenly over base

 5. Put in mini-fridge (freezer recommended) for 5 minutes while you melt next layer of chocolate

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 6. Add layer of white and return it to the fridge 

 7. Layer on the melted dark chocolate and then sprinkle the crushed peppermint over

 8. Let bark cool for 10 minutes in the fridge before eating

 9. Cut into chunks and share with your friends!