Gifts In A Jar

When I visited San Diego, California in September, I was fortunate to meet two fellow bloggers, Cori of Gingerbread Crumbs and Company and Joanne of My Little Cottage In The Making. Cori gave Joanne and myself a sweet gift of Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookie mix in a jar, and I recently made the cookies to serve on a day when I had friends over for coffee.

Unfortunately the mix in the jar, and the pretty bag it was presented in, got a little disheveled from being packed in my suitcase, but you can see from the photo above that Cori had a pretty piece of fabric decorating the lid, and a pretty recipe tag with both the directions on how to make the cookies and also how to fill another jar with the cookies ingredients as a future gift.

The cookies were absolutely delicious! They were soft and chewy and filled with chocolaty flavor!
Now that the holidays are fast approaching I thought it would be fun to share this wonderful treat, after getting Cori's permission of course, as it makes a wonderful gift to give a friend, co-worker, neighbor, etc.

This would also make a nice activity for you to do together with older children, or grandchildren, for them to give as gifts to their teachers, babysitters, bus drivers, etc.

Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookie Jar Ingredients:


To one clean quart canning jar add:

Layer one: 1 1/2 cups uncooked old fashioned Oats

Layer two: 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Layer three: 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Layer four: 1 cup packed light brown sugar

Layer 5 ( mix together before placing in the jar):

1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda


Now the jar is completed and it can be presented with these instructions on how to make the cookies:

To Prepare Cookies:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

One jar of Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip cookies mix

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease cookies sheets.
2. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg until blended. (Mix may appear curdled) Add cookie mix to butter mixture; stir until well blended.
3. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 8 - 10 minutes, or until edges are brown. Let cookies cool on cookie sheets 2 minutes, Remove cookies to a wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

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There are many wonderful "Gifts In A Jar" recipe web sites with many other ideas of how to layer ingredients for a pretty presentation, that will make cookies, soups, brownies, bath salts, etc.

Here are a few links to web site that have "Gift In A Jar" ideas that I thought were good:

Organized Christmas

All Free Crafts

Craft Bits

Heart 4 Home

Budget 101 -- has decorating ideas for the jars


Do you prepare homemade gifts for family and friends? What are you making?