We're early enough in December that homemade gifts are well within our grasp. MomSpeaker Trina O'Boyle shares her yummy recipe for Cookies in a Jar, a DIY hit perfect for teachers, Secret Santa swaps, colleagues and neighborhood parties. Trina used a sugar cookie recipe, but you can do this with the dry ingredients of just about any cookie recipe you like; just include the recipe so your giftee can add wet ingredients and bake to proper specifications.
With two boys in school, we have a lot of teachers to purchase for during the holidays. I like to have the boys help me in the gift-giving process because essentially these gifts are from them. In the past we have made homemade breads, cookies and treats; went to nurseries and picked out plants; made handmade cards.
We decided to make something homemade for each person, and we have the perfect idea — “Cookie in a Jar” gifts.
We headed to our local craft and grocery stores and gathered all the materials and ingredients we needed for the gifts. There were a few bumps in the road, like having to improvise with a snowflake wand instead of a snowflake sponge for painting. And the original recipe called for much more dry ingredients than what would fit into the jarm, so we had to cut the recipe in half. After we figured it all out we got started making our gifts.
I have to warn you, it’s a bit messy. Glitter as we all know is just a mess no matter how many tablecloths, mats or newspaper you have laid down. We also had an issue with the flour not flowing into the jar. I saw a similar recipe posted by another blogger who was smart because she used a funnel for the dry ingredients — and I sadly did not. By the time we were done we had glitter ghost faces — LOL!
COOKIES IN A JAR: SUGAR COOKIE DRY INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
COOKIES IN A JAR MATERIALS
- Mason jars
- Paint for bags and spray paint for lids
- Glitter
- Shaped sponges
- Paper bags
- Stickers
- Card
COOKIES IN A JAR DIRECTIONS
- Mix the color paint you want and spread on the shaped sponge (a snowflake or any kind you want).
- Sponge-paint the bags and sprinkle glitter over the paint, set aside and let dry. You could even do this a few days or weeks beforehand if you were a planner . . . me, not so much!
- Together we measured out the ingredients and placed them into each jar. Then we headed outside and spray-painted the tops of each Mason jar.
- We placed the lids on the jars and then put snowflake stickers on the top.
- I then printed out the recipe and cut them out to look like ornaments, since our holiday card was an ornament.
If you are looking for some fun cookie recipes that might inspire you, check out these Lemon and Lavender Shortbread Cookies that I just love.
Trina O'Boyle is a Drexel Hill, PA mom of two boys. This post is adapted from her blog, O'Boy Organic.
