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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Cookies in a Jar- Gifts too -

Tuesday we had our once a month craft class - - -We had a whoopping 7 people attend – it was great. We learned (hands on) all the ins & outs of Cookies in a Jar.. (and Other Stuff in a Jar)....It was so much fun and fast and furious …I forgot to take pictures!

This gives me an opportunity to give YOU a tutorial on making Cookies in a Jar. There are a few hints and suggestions that will help make the process of layering these gifts a lot easier and smoother.

Having the recipes on your computer helps when making the *Tag* because when you make the Cookies in a Jar (or Something-else in a Jar) you can cut and paste the “instruction Tag" to your favorite paper and have a tag made up quickly to put with your Jar. (AND if you stay with me through the end of this tutorial… you can email me for a copy of my 29 page list of recipes and ideas).. –well I guess you don’t HAVE to stay with be till the bitter end, you COULD just email me right now.. but then you’d miss all the fun .
First: assemble the ingredients.

Jars- It says to have the wide mouth jars (like the kind on the left), but frankly, if you have the regular jars around that’s fine, they still hold the same amount. For filling all the jars you still need a funnel of sorts. I use paper, a little bit heavier than copy paper but not as heavy as card stock. Just roll it a little and it sure helps in filling the jar.

nice eh?
Tamping – All ingredients need to be tamped in. I found that the best tamping tool was a ice cream scoop. Although this wooden rolling pin also helped, as did a little glass or even a rounded measuring spoon. Just look around to what you have handy and see if it fits in the mouth of the jar.
Adding the Ingredients:- Think about the color & type of ingredient and how much air you can tamp out. Add white baking soda or powder or salt to the flour. (Slowly whisking them together will combine it thoroughly) Sugar and Flour need to be tamped down. Be careful with the flour because one hard tamp and the puff of flour can spill all over the place.
Add the flour slowly. I also add flour to my white sugar (so my line of flour isn’t the biggest item in the jar.) You can also add the flour mixture to other white things like…. Coconut or a little bit to the Oats. If you add the flour on top of large things like chocolate chips, it will fall into the cracks and make the chocolate chips almost disappear. (same with nuts).
When through with an ingredient, I use a knife to make the edge sharp.
Just keep tamping each layer (even the large items like chips and nuts have to be tamped down)This jar is Cowboy Cookies.

For Sand Art Brownies= numerous colored layers OF THE SAME CONSISTENCY - After layering and LIGHTLY tamping the layers, you can use a ka-bob stick or Popsicle stick and start poking down from the side of the jar to make “waves” of colors. After you have gone all the way around the jar and like the look, slowly and tightly tamp down the insides of the jar again (starting from the middle of the jar and working your way out. If you find that tamping it down changes the waves, just tamp the middle and add your heavier ingredients to the middle first.

Cowboy cookies ( guess that last one is cow cookies)Thank you for sticking with me- some of the steps are obvious but wanted to mention them anyway!

You can email me (or leave me a comment) that you want to have an email with an attachment of my gatherings of recipes… there are so many besides a ton of Cookie recipes, like Pizza dough in a Jar, and Amaretto Cocoa Mix and White Hot Chocolate Mix... well you get the idea.


I KNOW YOU’LL THANK ME because I've just made this year the easiest Christmas Gift Giving EVER (neighbors, friends, VT ladies, Home Teachers, people at work, the mail person, hair stylist, babysitters, and on and on)

25 Wonderful People Who Commented:

Lauren said...

very cool! i love the "sand art brownie" one!

Susan Anderson said...

I love the sand art and the cowboy cookies. Seriously, it is making me hungry.

(I keep saying this today...I'm trying to eat really healthy and I am missing our on goodies like this.)

What great and appealing presents these make!

=)

Em said...

i love this idea and all of the cute things you can do with it.

Kieri said...

I love the idea of doing this for preasents. Very cool; I can see why you had 7 people!

JB said...

whats your paypal account for ordering them ??!!! :-D Luv ya

Sandy said...

Spending a rainy afternoon reading blogs. Just wanted to let you know I stopped by. Love the cookies in a jar. Thanks for all the clear instructions!

Carmen said...

This was VERY helpful- Thank you!

m weaver said...

can you send a list of your recipes to me please? mcw68rn2@aol.com

Anonymous said...

can you send a list of recipes to me? They look awesome! jenniferkuiken@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

can you send a list of recipes to me? I am going to make about 12 of these, they look just wonderful.....thx so much...

carpenter1967@att.net

Tabatha said...

Thank you so much for sharing this with us! My email is kloudy_day@hotmail.com Thanks again!!!

Dana said...

This is a great idea. I try to incorporate homeade items every Christmas...Would you mind emailing me alist of recipes.. luvmyhailey803@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

PLease send me your ideas. I think these are great. bbearden@augustaga.gov

bkh said...

Pleas send me you recipes and ideas. I want to use them for a church youth group project. Thanks
bkheadley@insightbb.com

bkh said...

Love your ideas! Please email them to me.
bkheadley@insightbb.com

Cathy said...

I love your gifts in a jar. Can you send me the recipes, please? cjprisco75@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I love these! Can you send me the recipes please?? aliciapolston@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

The brownies look so pretty. Can you send me the recipes please?
wambaugh4life@hotmail.com

Heather said...

Can you send me the recipes please? nursehnr@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Two days before Christmas and I am still looking for "different" extra gifts and I think I have found them ! these look great.
Could you please send me your other recipes?
Thank you and Happy Holidays.
Cheryle
cheryle530@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful! Please send me your recipes to naturallyfamous[at]gmail.com! Thank you again!

Anonymous said...

these look brilliant!
please could you send me the recipies?
many thanks
durbanamanda@aol.com

Unknown said...

I'm So happy to find your site. These are amazing. Please send me your recipes.... :) I'm a stay at home mom with a little budget for gifts. this will be great. Janicamehling@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi, I would also love your recipes. i would have emailed you but i cannot find your email so here's mine: silvana711@ymail.com.

Many thanks

Rebecca said...

What a wonderful blog! I now know what many will be getting for Christmas this year, would you be so kind as to send me some of your recipes to rebeccacatterall@hotmail.com. xx