Campus Life, Lifestyle

Calling all banana lovers! Here are five easy banana desserts for dorm living

If you love dining hall bananas, and are tired of eating them straight out of the peel, or if you typically grab bananas in the dining hall, let them sit in your room until they have browned and don’t know what to do with them — this article is for you.

Living in a college dorm can suck as you are limited to what you can bake since you are not given a kitchen in your room. You most likely just have three items — a microwave, freezer and refrigerator. With that being said, those three appliances are all that you need to make the recipes I have compiled down below.

Chloe Hannum / DFP Staff

They are simple, sweet, cheap and healthy banana desserts that will be sure to take your dining hall fruit game to the next level. I promise you will wish you would have tried these recipes sooner … go bananas!

Banana-dipped peanut butter chocolate bites

College students are always busy, so I decided to start off this assortment of banana desserts in a very simplistic way. For this recipe, you need a fresh dining hall banana, peanut butter, — to make it healthier, look for natural peanut butter that doesn’t include added sugars and oils — chocolate chips of your choosing and coconut oil to help melt the chocolate in your microwave.
You will also need a microwave safe bowl, a plate to put in the freezer and parchment paper or some other type of non-stick item to lay on top of the plate so the bananas don’t stick.

  1. Place the parchment paper on top of the plate and cut the banana into about 20 slices.
  2. Place 10 slices of banana on the parchment paper and spread the peanut butter — you can also use the dining hall sunbutter or buy almond butter for an alternative — on the banana slice and top with the remaining 10 banana slices to make mini sandwiches.
  3. Place these bites in the freezer to harden for about 30 minutes to an hour.
  4. Once they have hardened, take your microwave bowl, mix the coconut oil with the chocolate chips and microwave for one minute. Stir the chocolate and microwave for another 30 seconds. Repeat until the chocolate is melted.
  5. Dip the frozen bites into the chocolate. If you want to get fancy, you can dip them in dining hall sprinkles, marshmallows or extra chocolate chips.
  6. Place them back into the freezer so they can harden again, and once that is complete you are done.

Banana and sunbutter stuffed dates

This is the easiest, most delicious dessert that I am sharing with you. It is great for a light midnight snack as it is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth in a healthier way. For this recipe you need dining hall bananas, dates and dining hall sunbutter — you can also use peanut butter, or almond butter — and you can add flaky sea salt and chocolate chips to elevate the dessert.

  1. On a plate, cut in half as many dates as you would like.
  2. Scoop sunbutter into the middle of one side of the date.
  3. Add a thin banana slice into the date.
  4. Optional — include a sprinkle of flaky salt and about two chocolate chips.
  5. Top with the other half of the date and enjoy.

Banana pudding with vanilla wafers

I promise this dessert will not let you down! For this recipe you need two bananas, one instant banana pudding mix — use instant vanilla mix if you don’t want your dessert to have too much of a banana flavor — three cups of milk and eight ounces of Cool Whip and one box of vanilla wafers.

  1. You can use a cup or a bowl to layer this dish effectively, so whichever one you choose, grab it out and place one layer of vanilla wafers at the bottom.
  2. Thinly slice a banana and add it on top of the cookie layer.
  3. Make the instant pudding and once you have completed that, combine the Cool Whip and instant pudding.
  4. Pour about half of that mixture on top of the cookies and bananas, and repeat steps 1-3 over again.
  5. Once done, crush up a few more vanilla wafers and add it on top.
  6. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Banana bread mug cake — Gluten free

If you are gluten free, or even if you are not, this is a high protein, low carb, 90-second microwaved banana bread mug cake. You will need a microwave-safe mug, a fork, a dining hall banana, an egg, three tablespoons of almond flour and one tablespoon of dining hall chocolate chips. If you want to upgrade your banana cake you can add chocolate icing, cream cheese frosting, vanilla frosting, peanut butter or melted chocolate.

  1. In the greased mug, mash up the banana with your fork and then crack the egg into it and mix together.
  2. Add the almond flour and stir and then mix in the chocolate chips — you can add peanut butter chips for an extra kick.
  3. Microwave for 90 seconds. If it isn’t ready, you can microwave it for a little bit longer until you get the cake texture that you enjoy. But make sure to microwave in 20-30 second intervals.
  4. Add on the frosting or melted chocolate if you choose to.
  5. Enjoy!

I hope this gave you some inspiration to have fun with your desserts. I’ve fallen in love with these delicious tastes, and my goal is that you feel the same, too, once you try them. Happy eating!

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