Cookies in a Jar

Here's another easy gift idea:

Several years ago, I cut this idea out of The Montgomery Advertiser. I made this about 3 years ago, and it turned out to be a success. One of the people I gave it to was The Dish Washer's Granny. She never made them, but always saved the jar. Last year before she died, my mother in law decided to bake them. By three years later, the sugars at the bottom were rock solid so she had to replace them with fresh. You may want to give this as a gift to folks you know will bake them right away.

Country Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. rolled oats
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips*
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)
3 dashes cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
In a 1 quart or 1 liter jar; layer the ingredients in the order given. Pack down the jar after each addition. Attach a tag to the ribbon with the following instructions-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together 3/4 c. softened butter with 2 eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add the entire contents of the jar and mix by hand until combined. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

*I always use milk chocolate instead of semisweet chips in all of my recipes.


This is the jar before I added the topper. As you can see, it is very packed. I wouldn't have been able to get nuts in this jar if I tried, so I ended with the chocolate chips in the above recipe. I thought I had some burlap that I was going to use as a topper with some red raffia ribbon, but I couldn't find it when I went looking. I must have used it already to wrap another gift. Luckily, I save all of my scrap fabrics and this was some from when I re-covered my kitchen table chairs. I thought it would pass for this Christmas season.