Cookies in a Jar for Santa

via [make-it-do.com]

During the Holidays, I love gifts that either make my life easier or are a fun activity for the family. Today’s gift idea does both.

Most kids love to leave a plate of cookies for Santa. But having time to bake on Christmas Eve can be a challenge. This gift makes it easy to throw together a batch of cookies in a hurry.

“Cookies for Santa” makes a great gift for friends as well.

Of course I had to make a batch to “test” the recipe. And I can vouch that Santa will love these cookies.

To make this wonderful cookie mix click here to go to Bakerella for the recipe.

And here’s a few additional tips: I found it best to make the cookie mix in a Wide Mouth Quart jar. I didn’t buy the special craft jars that Bakerella used, because they are more expensive and I don’t mind the embossing. I used my wide mouth canning funnel to pour the ingredients in the jar, which really reduced the mess. One batch made about 2 1/2 dozen cookies. I used regular Christmas M & M’s, but I was tempted to try the Mint Christmas M & M’s, I think that would be really yummy.

For the recipe instructions I created a document with both the front and back labels. I printed it out on scrapbook paper and cut them out using a 2 inch circle punch. I adhered the labels to the bottle using double sticky tape. If you’d like to make your labels using the document I created click here.

This project was so fun to make.It’s a great feeling to make my gifts now and know I’m saving major stress in December.

Recipe

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Stir all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Add

1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Use the back of a large spoon to work it all together. You may even need to use your hands to get everything incorporated.

Then roll the cookie dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, place on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. I got about 26-28 cookies out of these.

Start with a 1 quart smooth Ball jar. I found these at Hobby Lobby craft store.

Layer the ingredients in like this:

First: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
Second: oats
Third: m&ms
Fourth: chocolate chips
Fifth: brown sugar
Sixth: white sugar
Seventh: chopped pecans

Pack each level down really tightly. I mean it. Pack it in. Or else it won’t all fit. Also, I added the chopped pecans last, because if the ingredients were too much or not enough, then I could add more or less pecans to adjust. I’d rather sacrifice nuts than chocolate, you know. The ingredients should be flush to the top of the lid when you seal it up.

via [make-it-do.com]