Cookies in a jar have to be one of the easiest gift-giving ideas around. 

Just a few simple staples from your pantry dumped into a wide-mouthed canning jar takes literally minutes, leaving you ample time to pull one together in a pretty little presentation ready for gifting in under 20 minutes.
If you take a moment to let Google help you, you’ll quickly find that there are scads of recipes for jar mixes, including cookie mixes, brownie mixes and even soup mixes.  At the end of this project tutorial, I’ll list the recipes used to fill these jars, but you might also find this website helpful. It has very practical tips, as well as, many different recipes listed in the left sidebar.

Filling a wide-mouthed canning jar can be a bit messy if you simply try to just dump ingredients into the jar straight from the measuring cup.  You’ll find it nearly mess-free if you create a simple paper cone from cardstock or cardstock-weight patterned paper. You can roll your paper into a cone shape and secure with glue dots or scotch tape.

Pick your favorite cookie recipe and fill your jars starting with the flour, soda, salt and baking powder at the bottom, then adding sugars, oats and finally any mix-ins such as chocolate candies or flavored baking chips.  Add the seal on top, but hold off on adding the ring just yet.

To add some fun flair to your jars for gift giving, trace the outer ring of the smallest circle in the Supersized Circle Template set onto the backside of a coordinating piece of fabric. Cut out along your traced line using pinking shears.

Place fabric over seal, and then tighten ring over the fabric. Use glue dots to attach a whisk, spatula or wooden spoon to the side of your jar, and then tie a 20” length of grosgrain or satin ribbon around the jar. Here’s a TIP:  For extra support you might want to secure the utensil with a rubber band.  Just make sure your ribbon hides the rubber band. Set aside as you craft the pieces to embellish the jars.

Create labels for the front of your jar using your Fuse Creativity System along with Medium Design Set 0111 and Medium Design Set 0191.  Create two snowflakes from Medium Design Set 0111 using two different colors of cardstock.  A darker ink of the same color cardstock gives depth to your piece.

Decide which of the two colors will be the top layer and cut around the inked image as shown.

Personalize the ‘from the kitchen of:’ label using letters from the Alpha Basic stamp set mounted to your stamp block.
 

Layer both snowflake die-cuts one top of one another, matching the centers. Use a paper piercing tool (or a thumbtack) to poke a hole through the centers.  Insert fabric covered brad through the holes and open the prongs on the back.  Further embellish the larger snowflake with self-adhesive rhinestones placed over the letter pressed dots at the tip of each point on the snowflake.

Use glue dots or foam tape to attach the label and snowflake to the jar. You may have to adjust your ribbon/bow to be off to the side so your die-cuts will lie nicely.  I found it easier to make the layered snowflakes slightly off-center to the left of the personalization stamped on the kitchen label so the name shows completely.
Be sure when you gift your cookie mix you also include instructions for mixing and baking so the recipient can prepare their cookies.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 ¼ cup chocolate chips*
*NOTE: For M&M cookies, reduce salt to ½ tsp. and substitute M&Ms for chocolate chips. Or, do half chocolate chips, half M&Ms.
Add ingredients to jar in order listed. Pack each layer firmly. Mixing instructions to include: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Empty jar of mix into large bowl and mix evenly to distribute ingredients. Add ½ cup softened butter or margarine, 1 egg (slightly beaten) and 1 tsp. vanilla.  Mix well.  Place by spoonful, 2” apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 until edges are light brown—approximately 11 – 13 minutes. Yield 2 ½ dozen.
Oatmeal Scotchies
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups oats
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup butterscotch chips
Add ingredients to jar in order listed. Pack each layer firmly. Mixing instructions to include: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Empty jar of mix into large bowl and mix evenly to distribute ingredients. Add ¾ cup softened butter or margarine, 1 egg (slightly beaten) and 1 tsp. vanilla.  Mix well.  Place by spoonful, 2” apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 until edges are light brown—approximately 10 – 12 minutes. Yield 3 dozen.