Gift's in a Jar (Cookie's, Cake....)

[misha123]

I am not sure where to post this but these are nice gifts and not to costly to make and give out. I hope no one minds.These have become very popular for giving as gifts! Older people that are hard to buy for, because they already have everything, LOVE them!!! Great for last minute gifts, gifts for teacher, hostess gifts to take along to a dinner party ~~They are also great to put in a food basket along with other food items! And,they are fun to make! Use your imagination!! Decorate the jar with a piece of fabric and raffia bow. A wooden spoon, small utensil,or cinnamon cut-out,looks cute tied on too! Now, on to the recipes!!
Brownies In A Jar
Dry ingredients for brownies are layered in a one quart jar and given as a gift, along with baking directions.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1. Pour sugar into a clean and dry one quart jar. Press down firmly.
2. Add cocoa powder and press down firmly. Pour in chopped pecans, making sure pecans are evenly layered in the jar. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into jar and seal.
3. Attach the following directions to the jar:
Brownies in a Jar
Empty mix into large bowl. Use your hands to mix thoroughly. Add 3/4 cup of butter or margarine and 4 slightly beaten eggs. Mix until completely blended. Spread batter into a lightly greased or sprayed 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees° for 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pan. Cut into 2 inch squares. Makes 2 dozen

[misha123]

M&M Cookie Mix in a Jar

1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups M and M's candies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:
1 Mix together flour, baking soda and baking powder.
2 Layer ingredients in jar in order given in a 1 quart ''wide mouth'' canning jar. Add the flour mixture last. It will be a tight fit when you add the flour mixture so be sure to pack everything down firmly. Add a piece of fabric to the top of the jar and tie with raffia.
3 Instructions to attach to jar:
M & M's Cookies
1. Empty jar of cookie mix into large mixing bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly blend mix.
2. Add 1/2 cup margarine or butter softened at room temperature. DO NOT USE DIET MARGARINE Mix in 1 egg, slightly beaten, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
3. Mix until completely blended. You will need to finish mixing with your hands.
4. Shape into balls the size of walnuts and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart. DO NOT USE WAXED PAPER.
5. Bake at 375° for 12 to 14 minutes until edges are slightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes then remove to wire racks to finish cooling. Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

[misha123]

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in a Jar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup raisins
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1 Mix together flour, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2 Layer ingredients in order given in a 1 quart wide mouth'' canning jar. It will be a tight fit, make sure you firmly pack down each layer in place before adding the flour mixture.
3 Instructions to attach to jar:
Oatmeal Raisin Spice Cookies
1. Empty jar of cookie mix into large mixing bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly blend mix. 2. Add: 3/4 cup butter or margarine softened at room temp. DO NOT USE DIET MARGARINE. Stir in one egg, slightly beaten. Add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla. 3. Mix until completely blended. You will need to finish mixing with your hands. 4. Shape into balls the size of walnuts. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheets 2 inches apart. DO NOT USE WAXED PAPER. 5. Bake at 350° for 11 to 13 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to baking racks to finish cooling. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

[misha123]

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Mix in a Jar

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups packed confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1 In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
2 Layer ingredients in order given in a 1 quart ''wide mouth'' canning jar. Clean the inside of the jar with a dry paper towel after adding the confectioners' sugar and after adding the cocoa powder. Be sure to pack everything down firmly before adding the flour mixture, it will be a tight fit.
3 Instructions to attach to jar:
Peanut Butter Cookies
1. Empty jar of cookie mix into large mixing bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly blend mix.
2. Add: 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened at room temperature. DO NOT USE DIET MARGARINE. Add 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, 1 egg, slightly beaten, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
3. Mix until completely blended. You will need to use your hands to finish mixing.
4. Shape into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheets. DO NOT USE WAXED PAPER. Press balls down with a fork.
5. Bake at 350° for 9 to 11 minutes until edges are browned. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet then tranfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

[misha123]

Chocolate Chip Cookies in a Jar

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
Mix the salt and baking soda in with the flour, then layer the ingredients into the jar. Use scissors to cut a 9 inch-diameter circle from calico. Place over lid and secure with rubber band. Tie on a raffia or ribbon bow to cover rubber band.
Enclose a card with the following mixing and baking directions:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Preheat oven to 375°
Sift dry ingredients through a colander to separate the chocolate chips from other ingredients.
Beat 1 cup of butter or margarine in a medium bowl. Beat sifted ingredients into butter until blended.
In a small bowl, beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
Mix beaten egg mixture into butter mixture until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop teaspoonfuls of batter, spaced well apart, onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes or until lightly browned.
Makes 4 dozen

[misha123]

Chunky Chocolate Cookie Mix in a Jar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup jumbo chocolate chips
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1 Mix together the flour, baking soda and baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2 Layer ingredients in order in a 1 quart wide mouth canning jar. Make sure you pack all down firmly before adding the flour mixture - it will be a tight fit. NOTE: Wipe down the inside of the jar after you add the cocoa powder.
3 Instructions to attach to jar:
Chunky Chocolate Cookies
1. Empty jar of cookie mix into a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly blend mix.
2. Add 3/4 cup butter or margarine softened at room temp. DO NOT USE DIET MARGARINE Add 1 egg, slightly beaten, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
3. Mix until completely blended. The dough is sticky. you will need to finish mixing with your hands.
4. Shape into walnut size balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. DO NOT USE WAXED PAPER.
5. Bake at 350° for 11 to 13 minutes . Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet. Remove to racks to finish cooling. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

[misha123]

Cake in a Coffee Mug
( read all instructions before starting) (makes
1 cake mix any flavor
1 ( 4 serving size) instant pudding mix ( not sugar free), any flavor
Place dry cake mix and dry pudding mix into a large bowl and blend well with a whisk. This will be about 4 – 4 ½ cups dry mix and will make 8-9 coffee cup cake mixes. Place ½ cup dry mix into a sandwich bag. Place mix into a corner of the bag and tie it there with a twist tie. Continue making packets until all your dry mix is used.
Flavor suggestions:
Lemon cake mix- lemon pudding
Yellow cake mix- vanilla pudding
Devils food cake mix- chocolate pudding
Pineapple cake mix- coconut pudding
Butterscotch cake mix- butterscotch pudding

Select a large coffee cup. Check it to be sure it holds 1 ½ cups of water. That way you will be sure you have bought the size the recipe calls for. It can't have any metallic paint on it because it will be used in the microwave. Places like WalMart and craft stores sell plain cups.

Decorating the cups
Paint on the cup if you like. DecoArt Ultra Gloss Acrylic Enamel is one brand of craft paint that can be made dishwasher safe by baking the painted cup in the oven. (instructions are on the bottle of paint usually). Another idea is to find cups at rummage sales, thrift stores,Dollar General... etc....you can usually find tons of them! I found 6 mugs with holly on them, for 25 cents each,, that I'll be using for these for Christmas basket gifts!!

Glaze mix
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp dry flavoring ( such as powdered lemonade mix, powdered orange breakfast drink mix, cocoa powder)
Vanilla powder sold by coffee flavorings (or use French Vanilla CoffeeMate)
Select the flavoring appropriate to the cake you are making; Example:.
For the pineapple coconut cake include flaked coconut in a separate bag with instructions to sprinkle it over the frosted cake.
Place the glaze mix ingredients into a sandwich bag and tie into corner of bag. Label this bag "glaze mix" and attach it to the other bag with a twist tie.

Place one baggie cake mix and one baggie glaze mix in each coffee cup. Now attach the following baking instructions to each coffee cup.

Bake a cake in a coffee mug!
Instructions:
Generously spray inside of coffee cup with cooking spray. Empty contents of large packet into cup. Add 1 egg white, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp water to dry mix. Mix 15 seconds, carefully mixing in all the dry mix. Microwave on full power 2 minutes.( you may not get satisfactory results in a low wattage small microwave). While cake is cooking, place ingredients from "Glaze Mix" into a very small container and add 1 ½ tsp water. Mix well. When cake is done, pour glaze over cake in cup. Enjoy while warm.

[misha123]

Soup Mix in a Jar

Makes a wonderful gift for holidays, a friend under the weather, or just to say thanks! And it tastes great too! Decorate the jar with a fabric lid and/or a bow tied around the neck. Be sure to attach the cooking instructions to the jar.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup beef bouillon granules
1/4 cup dehydrated onion flakes
1/2 cup split peas
1/2 cup ABC, small shell, or ring macaroni (any small shape pasta will do)
1/4 cup barley
1/2 cup lentils
1/3 cup non-instant white rice
tricolor spiral pasta
Directions:
Use a canning funnel or any funnel that has about a 2-inch neck. This will make it easier to fill the jars with the ingredients. Be sure to use a wide-mouth, 1-quart canning jar.
Layer ingredients in the order given: bouillon, onion flakes, split peas, small shape pasta, barley, lentils, rice, and enough tricolor spiral pasta to fill jar.
Attach tag with cooking instructions:
In large kettle, brown 1 pound ground beef or stew beef cut into bite-size pieces in a little olive oil. Remove tricolor pasta from top of jar and reserve. Add the rest of the jar contents to the kettle with 12 cups water. Let come to a boil and simmer 45 minutes. Add tricolor pasta and simmer 15 minutes more. Serve with your favorite bread or rolls and a tossed salad. ENJOY!!

[MSVL]

What a great idea! I usually like to give all my family members something small, even though we pick names- these would be great. Thanks for posting and all your typing

[Brendabutt]

What a neat idea. I've seen these at Arts and Craft shows before and always thought about making them as gifts. I think I found a web site somewhere with a bunch of these recipes. Have you tired any of these and which are the best? I think I will try some of these for Christmas.

[misha123]

these are all super easy and fast! Any cookie or cake will work just leave out the moist stuff and on Microsoft Word type up little hang tags. The ones I like the best are the layered ones.......Well my homemade Bailey's rock well with everyone! But really as gifts they are great and last along time. I make all mine in ball Canning jars. The ones in a coffe cup are great for giving for a few people at a time. The soup I forget can be layered to. Sorry I am getting slap happy from being way over tired. Just try out all differnt kiinds you can think of. Have fun

[cata5]

Thanks for the great directions! I saw some of these in the paper last year, but never actually made them. There was a rice mixture that looked fun, too.

The coffee cup cakes would be great for single people who probably don't make many homemade desserts! I know just the person!

[cashhound]

I got one of these for Christmas a couple of years ago. It was so pretty, all layered in the jar and decorated, that it is still sitting out on display in my kitchen...lol. It's too cute to cook.

You can bet there's some people on my list who will e getting these. Thanks misha

[lizsmom]

What a great idea !! I usually make these every year, but same ole' boring ones...what a new change of pace ! Thanks !

[whitequeen96]

Thaks, these look great! But where's the homemade Bailey's? That sounds very interesting!