Jar Cookies-Great Cookie Gift Ideas

A gift that you have put together yourself is a great way to express your appreciation for someone else. Nothing says love more than a warm cookie. With that in mind, here are some great cookie gift ideas that you can use. They will bring your own special recipe for fresh baked cookies to your loved one who may live across the street or across the continent.

Jar cookie gifts are made by placing all the dry ingredients for your favorite cookies in a canning jar. Typically, a quart jar is required for gift cookies.

The recipe you choose should have a dry ingredient list that adds up to about four cups. Recipes using brown sugar work best since it can be packed a little tighter if necessary or can be used to form a plug that will keep all the other ingredients in place if the volume is less than one quart.

Recipes with multi-colored ingredients work best for these types of gifts. Sugar cookies, for example would not work well since all the dry ingredients are white.

Once you have selected your recipe then begin layering the ingredients into the jar. You could begin with the flour, then add something for color, such as the chocolate chips or raisins. Add another light colored ingredient such as sugar and continue the process until all of the dry ingredients have been added. Pack the brown sugar to hold all the other layers in place. The finished product should look like a sand sculpture.

Spices could also be drawn along the glass surface on the inside of the jar to make interesting designs.

After placing all the ingredients in the jar, add a fresh canning lid, cover with a square of decorative cloth and hold in place with a canning ring. Use raffia or ribbon to attach directions for completing your warm cookie gift.

Since you have all the ingredients out already, you may wish to make more than one gift of jar cookies. If the ingredients are sealed in tightly in the jars, they will keep for several months and be ready for giving at a moment’s notice.

Hey, since you do have those ingredients out, you could choose to bake up a fresh batch of cookies for your family. As you have looked through your recipes for cookie gift ideas, you may have been reminded of one recipe you haven’t cooked in quite a while or found a new recipe for the family to try.