In the hustle and bustle that is college, students tend to skip meals or forget to eat, so caught up in going through the motions of the day. One great thing about being in college, though, is not having to eat a complete meal before enjoying dessert. I tested a recipe for a delicious dessert that can be prepared in the microwave in about seven minutes: chocolate chip cookie-in-a-mug.
For college students, “mug recipes” are simple solutions to the question of what to serve for dessert without having to worry about lack of baking experience or about breaking the bank. These recipes are easy solutions that can also impress people who are unfamiliar with the cooking style.
Regularly, I would just much prefer making a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies in the oven — adding, mixing, baking and all. Nothing beats the original thing, but this chocolate chip cookie-in-a-cup recipe is a close second.
The dough is consistent with regular chocolate chip cookies. It seems this chocolate chip cookie-in-a-cup recipe is actually just an incredibly reduced version of regular from-scratch recipes.
Most “in-a-cup” recipes are unable to replicate the texture of regular baked goods, and it often tastes like one is eating a delicious-tasting sponge. However, this is one “in-a-cup” recipe that got it right. Even though the consistency of eating a real cookie is one of a kind, this mug recipe comes close. After being cooked, the cookie is thick and gooey, similar to cookies baked in the oven.
This mug cookie is well worth the short seven minutes of prep and cook time. Even though it isn’t the same as regular cookies, it is as good as one can expect when cooking in a mug and microwave, rather than on a metal sheet and in the oven.
This recipe deserves 3.5 stars out of five. I would recommend this recipe to anyone who needs dessert in a jiffy, loves to experiment with cooking, or doesn’t like taking a lot of time to cook. Even if you don’t fit into any of those categories, I would still recommend this recipe as something just to try, at least once. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to make it again. But trying new things, especially food, is what college is all about, right?
Chocolate Chip Mug Cookie
Prep time: about five minutes
Cook time: 40 – 60 seconds
1 tablespoon butter (melted)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon firmly-packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla
A pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons of flour
2 heaping tablespoons of chocolate chips
Directions: Stir all ingredients except chocolate chips together in a mug of any kind. Make sure all of the dry ingredients are well-mixed and that the egg yolk is broken down and stirred in well. Once mixed, add the chocolate chips. Microwave the cookie dough in the mug for 40 – 60 seconds. The time needed for the cookie to cook depends on the wattage of your microwave. If it doesn’t look fully cooked after 60 seconds, continue to cook in increments of 10 seconds until the cookie is fully done.