RECIPE :: Oatmeal Holiday Cookie Mix in a Jar

Confession: I have a love/hate relationship with baking. I go through phases where all I want to do is bake, and then I don’t want to see another measuring spoon for months!

 

But one thing I do love about baking is how baked goodies make great gifts for friends and family (if I don’t eat them all myself). Especially during my student life when I was short on cash, I baked many gifts to give to others. I find that people always appreciate something homemade. The other homemade gifts I usually make for others is art stuff (cards, crafts, paintings, and the like) but the holidays is the time of year for EATING!

Although lately, I have been very interested in teaching kids how to cook. My partner and I have this new thing where we want to encourage the young cousins, nieces and nephews in our lives to learn how to make edible food. After all, cooking is a life skill. We both love to cook ourselves (although sadly I admit he is better at it than me, hah) and both believe that children are never too young to learn how food is prepared. Which brings me to this fun foodie gift idea!

This cookie jar recipe makes a great gift for families, because all of the dry ingredients are assembled beautifully in the jar. All the recipient needs to do is to add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  It is simple to do because the cookies are still made “from scratch” and it’s so easy to get the kids involved! This recipe was also featured on my TV segment on Daytime York Region!

Ingredients (Dry)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups uncooked old-fashioned oats or quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chocolate chips

 

Materials
1 glass jar (holds 1 L in volume)
decorative ribbon
cardstock cut into a large tag
single hole punch
scissors

Cookie Mix in a Jar Instructions

1. Wash and dry glass jar.
2. Starting from whole-wheat flour, measure each dry ingredient and pour evenly into the jar. Tap the jar gently to ensure each layer settles and builds nicely.
3. Write or type the instructions and ingredients needed on the cardstock (see Tag Instructions below). Punch a hole into it and tie to the neck of the jar with ribbon.

Tag Instructions
Cut out the tag and write or type the following information to attach to the jar:

 

Cranberry-Chocolate Oatmeal Holiday Cookies

Ingredients
1 Oatmeal Holiday Cookie Mix in a Jar
1/4 cup low fat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons butter (at room temperature)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Pour the dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir.
2. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, butter, egg, and vanilla. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, and beat together to form a dough.
3. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls ~2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets (covered in parchment paper or greased). Bake for 12 minutes at 350 F or until lightly browned.

Makes 40 cookies.

Nutrition Information (Per Final Cookie)
Calories 71 kcal | Fat 2g | Saturated Fat 0.9g | Protein 2g | Carbohydrate 12g | Fibre 1g | Sugar 6g

Recipe adapted from popsugar.com

Above: Gotta love the faces you make on TV! Below: Assembled together in a jar, it makes a nice, inexpensive gift for the holidays. And the jars are great to keep to store other treats, spices or ingredients in the after using the cookie mix. You can store dried fruits, nuts, flour, dried herbs or pasta. The only limits are your imagination!