Recipes for a Dorm Room

To many of us, the holidays mean good food and kitchens filled with the smells of baking.

If you can't wait to get home and are impatient to bring on the season early these recipes will warm up your dorm room with their delicious odors. They are all very simple and can be made with appliance such as hot pots, refrigerators and toaster ovens that most people have in their rooms.

No elaborate ingredients are needed, so you won't be left with half a bag of flour of a barely used bottle of corn syrup. Some ingredients can even be picked up in the dining hall. It doesn't really matter if you don't finish all the ingredients anyway, since leftovers such as chocolate chips are guaranteed to disappear in any room.

You also won't need complicated utensils--not even a measuring cup--just a fork, knife, and spoon.

Three of the recipes are designed for a 9 x 13 pan, but since this size is too big for most toaster ovens, just buy those small, cheap aluminum foil pans (somewhere around 9 x 6) and do the recipes in two of them.

All the desserts are simple enough so that you should not be afraid to change them to suit your own tastes. Don't be afraid to adapt and improvise. If you hate coconut, just don't add it. These recipes are for the most part, foolproof so that slight alterations, variations, or mismeasurements won't make them unappetizing.

Hot-Pot Peanut Butter and Chocolate Fudge

I 12-oz. package peanut butter chips

I 6-oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips

I 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk 4 tablespoons (half a stick) butter.

I small package peanuts (around 4-oz.)

First, chop the peanuts, Leave them in the unopened package and gently chop them with a hammer. If you're not lucky enough to find a hammer, use anything like a heavy shoe or old trophy.

Meanwhile, boil water in your hot pot; it should be around half full. For this recipe, you will need another small pot. They're really not very expensive, but if you really don't want to buy one, borrow one from a tutor with a kitchen.

In the small pot held over the boiling water, melt 2/3 of the can of sweetened condensed milk, the peanut butter chips, and two tablespoons of butter, stirring constantly. If the handle of the pot gets too hot, use something thick like a tube sock to cover the handle and absorb heat. Which the mixture is thoroughly mixed, remove like heat and stir in the peanuts.

Spread the mixture into a well buttered pan. Put the pan in the refrigerator, allowing the mixture to set slightly for a few minutes. Although this recipe is for a 9 X 13 pan it really doesn't matter what size you use. You can split the recipe and put it into two smaller pans, or just use a slightly, smaller pan to make thicker judge. It worse comes to worst, the mixture is stiff enough so that you can just spread it out on two dining hall plates.

While the peanut butter mixture is in the refrigerator, clean and dry the pot Melt the remaining ingredients, and spread them on top of the peanut butter mixture. Chill for two hours.

During past winters, when our refrigerator was overstocked so that there was no room for the pan. I would just leave the pan on a window sill and open the window, letting the cold air chill the fudge. This year, though, it might not be cold enough on most days to do this.

Looter's Trifle

This is a recipe that you are really encouraged to adapt. Almost all the ingredients are optional, and the amounts you use of each is really up to you.

I package instant vanilla pudding

1 1/2 cups dining hall milk (use a mug to approximate a cup)

Half of a 10-oz. Frozen pound cake, thawed (or 6-8 pieces of dining hall cake with the frosting removed.)

1/4 cup sherry or rum

1 cup of your favorite dining hall jam or frozen, sweetend fruit such as blueberries or strawberries

I cup another fruit, canned or frozen, such as peaches, raspberries, or fruit cocktail

1/2 cup blanched, slivered almonds (Z oz. Package)

1 9-oz container Cool Whip or other whipped lopping

Prepare the pudding with 1 1/2 cups of milk You don't need a rotary beater, just beat briskly with a fork. Chill (Pudding is not absolutely necessary for the recipe to work well, so only use it if you really like pudding.)

Although trifle is traditionally made in a large bowl, a more convenient method is to prepare approximately six separate servings using clear plastic cups of similar containers, such as deep wine glasses.

Cut the cake into small cubes and sprinkle with sherry, let stand a few minutes so the sherry soaks in. Put half the cubes into the serving cups. Layer half the jam, fruit, and almonds on top.

Fold half the whipped topping into the pudding and layer this mixture on next. Then make another layer of cake, jam fruit, and almonds, and top with plain whipped topping.

Two-Layer Fingertip Jello

4 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin

3 3-oz, packages flavored gelatin

4 cups or mugs of boiling water

1/2 pint heavy cream or whipping cream

This recipe is for a 9 x 13 pan, but use whatever equivalents you have. If you use a lightweight aluminum pan, place a large piece of stiff cardboard underneath the pan so that it won't be difficult to life when it is full of unset gelatin.

Combine the flavored and unflavored gelatins evenly in the pans. Add the boiling water and stir until the gelatin dissolves.

Add the cream and stir thoroughly until well mixed; this takes quite a while. Chill until set. The cream will gradually separate slightly, forming a separate top layer.

Cut into bar size to serve this gelatin thicker than normal, and can be eaten without utensils. If you've never had it before this probably sounds strange and you may think it will fall apart in your hands, but the gelatin really does bold together well.

Toaster-Oven Cookie Bars

I stick butter (half a cup)

6 oz. chopped walnuts or pecans

1.6-oz package butterscotch chips

1.6-oz package semi-sweet chocolate

chips.

Half a 4-oz package flaked coconut

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 11-oz box vanilla wafers.

Making the cookie crumbs is the only part of this recipe that isn't incredibly easy. If the inner package of cookies has a lot of air sealed in, open the package a little, let the air out and reseal the package with some tape. Then gently hammer the cookies with something heavy to crash them until they're fine. If the package doesn't hold up, put it into another plastic bag or two, or use a paper bag.

Heat your toaster oven to 325 degrees. Because the recipe is designed for a 9 13 pan, which will not fit into toaster ovens, you should divide it in half and make it in two pans, baking each separately.

Cut up the butter into slices and place it in a pan. Put it into the toaster-oven until the butter melts. Stir in the cookie crumbs and press the mixture into the bottom of the pan.

Layer the butterscotch chips, the chocolate chips, nuts, and coconuts on top. Drizzle the condensed milk over the mixture. Bake at 325degree for about half an hour. Normally you should cool before cutting, but you might find it too temping to wait.CrimsonTimothy W. PlassLooter's Trifle.