Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Homemade Gifts: Christmas Sweets in a Jar

I have always seen these homemade gifts and thought they were adorable and such a cute idea!! I would love to get these already-assembled cookies or brownies in a jar! I love to cook and bake, but sometimes I don't want to put forth the effort to make something homemade, but this gift saves someone all the effort of measuring everything out! From what I hear, there is some website that has tons of different ideas, like soups and other things that you can put in a jar as a gift for someone! And if you plan ahead and have a lot of the ingredients on hand, it would be a quick, fun way to get a lot of people's Christmas gifts taken care of! And fun for the kids to help make too!
They recently had all the ingredients for us to make these at our Christmas Women's party at our church. Such a fun activity! Although when you are chatting with other ladies and measuring at the same time, there is some room for error!! And also, it was a little tricky to fit all the ingredients into each container, so if you have that problem, you can always add the leftover ingredients in little bags or containers. I didn't write down the exact recipes for the cookies and brownies we made, but I found some recipes for similar things on Allrecipes.com. So, here they are:

Cowboy Cookie Mix in a Jar Allrecipes.com

1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I left the pecans out, also it helped everything fit better too!)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Layer the ingredients in order in a 1 quart jar in the order given. Press each layer in place before adding the next layer. (We actually mixed the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, just like you would if you were making it at home.)
2. Include a card with the following instructions:

Cowboy Cookie Mix in a Jar

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in the entire contents of the jar. Shape into walnut sized balls. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes in preheated oven. Transfer from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

It's also a fun way to include the kids in making people's Christmas presents!!

Brownie Mix in a Jar Allrecipes.com

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I didn't use them in this recipe either, I'm not a big nut fan, and it also creates more room in the jar for the other ingredients!)

1. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt (either in the jar or in a small bowl first.) Layer the remaining ingredients in the order listed. Press each layer firmly in place before adding the next layer. (It also says here to wipe out the jar after adding the cocoa powder so that the other layers show through!)
2. Attach a tag with the following instructions:

Brownie Mix in a Jar:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 by 13 inch pan.
2. Empty contents of brownie mix into a large mixing bowl and stir to blend. Mix in 3/4 cup melted butter and 4 eggs. Mix thoroughly. Spread batter evenly into pan.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely in pan before cutting into 2 inch squares.

Once you have the mixes assembled, you can make them pretty any way you want!! You can add ribbons, bows, get creative with the little tags you attach with the recipe, or you can add little pieces of fabric cut into circles with some puffy stuff (I don't know what it's called!) before screwing on the rim. So many possibilities!!
Enjoy! Your Christmas presents made easy this year!!
Head on over to alicashomemaking.com to see other people's New Adventures for the week!! You can get such good ideas!!

3 comments:

  1. That's awesome! Definitely a great gift idea. I would love to receive one of these.

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  2. I've seen these everywhere, but haven't made any. I think we will make some next year. Yum!

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  3. I love receiving those jars with a cookie mix or chai tea mix. They're wonderful. Hopefully, your recipient enjoys them.

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