The sweetest gifts are always homemade! Gift your friends and family with a homemade cookie mix that they can use to quickly and easily make a warm batch of homemade cookies. I’m also including two free printable tags: a holiday version and a non-holiday version.
Soft and chewy once baked, these are similar to my favorite chocolate chip cookies and make a great holiday gift! Make sure to make yourself a jar, too, for anytime you get a cookie craving!
A Sweet & Simple Homemade Gift
Before I jump into today’s post I need to say a huge THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for all the kind email and comments about Baby Luke’s arrival. I’ve read every single one of them and Zach and I appreciate it so much 💙
I’m so obsessed with these adorable, gift-able cookie mixes. Hopefully none of my family members are reading this right now because I’ve made so many recently that there’s a good chance everyone I know will be getting one of these this Christmas. And how adorable would these be as a party favor for a baby shower or bridal shower?
Too cute.
How to Assemble Cookie Mix in a Jar
Sure, you could just mix everything together and toss it in the jar, but what makes this gift so adorable is those pretty layers that you can see through the mason jar. Fortunately, it’s easy to assemble. You will need quart sized mason jars to make this cookie mix. To assemble:
- Start with your dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make sure to stir these together very well! Layer this into the bottom of your mason jar.
- Pack it in! Your flour will be all fluffed up, use a spoon to tamp it down until you have a nice, firmly packed even layer.
- Top with brown sugar. I actually like to use dark and light brown sugar. It gives us an extra pretty layer and adds to the taste and chewiness of the cookies. First firmly pack down your dark brown sugar, then repeat with the light brown.
- And then more sugar! Top your layer of brown sugar off with granulated sugar.
- Have fun with mix-ins. You have some options here! I used a blend of Christmas-colored M&Ms, semisweet chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips. Festive and delicious. You can use all chocolate chips, all candy, or use your imagination and use something else you know the gift recipient will love. Sprinkles? Toasted nuts? Toffee bits? I do recommend sticking to traditional cookie mix-ins as not all ingredients will necessarily keep well in the jar.
Don’t forget your tag!
You can simply write out the instructions for your gift recipient if you’d like, they are included in the recipe below.
However, I made some cute gift tags that you can print out here (here is a holiday version, and here is a non-holiday version if you’re viewing this post after the holidays). Print them on card stock and then use baker’s twine or ribbon to secure them to your mason jars.
So you have your cookie mix… Now what?
The idea of this cookie mix is to give a gift that makes making homemade cookies easy. As the gift card will tell the recipient, all you will need to make cookies out of this mix is:
- 12 Tablespoons of melted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Melt the butter and let it cool. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract. Now add the contents of the jar. Stir really well (make sure to break up any clumps from the brown sugar). Bake on 350F on an ungreased cookie sheet for 9-11 minutes.
Voila.
How Long Will This Cookie Mix Keep?
How long these cookie mixes last will mostly depend on the freshness of the ingredients that you’ve used. For best results, make sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh and recently purchased. Generally, I recommend using within 3 months of making.
Enjoy!
Let’s make this recipe together! Follow me on my YouTube channel where I’ve already uploaded over 200 recipe videos that you can watch for free!
Cookie Mix in a Jar (giftable)
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (265g)
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dark brown sugar¹ firmly packed (100g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar¹ firmly packed (100g)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
- 1-1 ½ cups mix-ins I used a blend of Christmas-colored M&Ms, semisweet chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips.
To be added by gift recipient:
- 12 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and whisk until well-combined.
- Use a large spoon to spoon the flour-mixture into the bottom of your mason jar. Tamp down to pack down the flour as much as possible. Use your spoon to create a straight line of flour directly against the glass (so you have nice, even layers) but don’t worry if some of the flour in the middle is uneven or mounded. If you happened to get a lot of flour on the sides of the jar, you can use a paper towel or pastry brush to wipe down the excess flour.
- Add dark brown sugar to the jar and use your spoon to firmly pack over the flour. Again, aim for clean straight edges against the glass.
- Top with light brown sugar and firmly pack over the dark brown
- Top with granulated sugar.
- Top sugar with add-ins, filling to the very top/brim of the mason jar. You want all ingredients to be tightly packed in so they don’t shift during any transportation.
- Top with mason jar lid and seal tightly. Print off printable instruction tag (find link to printable in the "equipment" section at the top of the recipe) and attach to jar with baker’s twine or ribbon.
Instructions for Gift Recipient:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Let butter cool until no longer warm to the touch. Stir together cooled butter, large egg, and vanilla extract. Add all ingredients from jar and stir well until completely combined (make sure to break up any clumps).Drop by rounded 1 ½ Tbsp-sized scoops onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool on baking sheet and enjoy!
Notes
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Edie Mullins
These were great cookies. Thank you for sharing!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Edie! 🙂
Judy Openshaw
I made these cookies and they were delicious my family loved then. I did find the mixture a bit dry to make into balls so added a little extra butter and a little water
. I made up the cookies in a jar and gave them to my family they loved how the jars look and I really enjoyed making up the jars .
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Judy! Generally this is a result of accidentally over-measuring the flour. Have you seen our post on how to measure flour properly? That should help! 🙂
Sanadi
How do you recommend I adjust this for high altitude baking? 5,500 feet.
Thanks
Sandi
Sam
Hi Sanadi! Unfortunately I do not have much experience with high altitude baking so I wouldn’t be able to give a good recommendation. Maybe someone else can chime in with some assistance. 🙁
Diane
I made these this morning with Memory Care Residents, we all put the item in the Jar and passed to the next, this was easy to follow. And the Senior Residents Loved that there’s a gift when the project is Complete
Riki Nut
Very good recipe which I plan to use as gifts with a baggie of a half dozen baked cookies so friends know how good they are. Thank you
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That’s a great idea, Riki! We hope your friends love their gifts 😊
Debra Crisco
Very nice gift and so easy to make!! Thank you so much❄️🎄❄️🎄
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We couldn’t agree more. Thanks so much for commenting, Debra! 😊
Olivia
Hi! I love this idea. So you by chance have a gluten free option for the flour? That would still work with the rest of the recipe ?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Olivia! While we haven’t tried it ourselves, you should be able to substitute a 1:1 gluten-free flour and still achieve good results. 😊
MALIA
I’m an avid at home baker & I love baking! I haven’t had much experience with baking with gluten free flour, but I did try it a couple of times. It is vastly different from baking with all purpose flour. It is not always a 1:1 ratio & it greatly depends on which kind of gluten free flour you will be using & for which purpose. I’ve done some research on this as I wanted to make from scratch gluten free cinnamon rolls. My suggestion is to research which flour to substitute specifically for this type of drop cookies. Or sick with a recipe for gluten free cookies. Just my opinion, hope this helps a bit.
Kiki
Hi,
Pls how much flour,sugar, etc must add on every jar??? Tks!
Sam
All of the ingredients and directions are in the recipe. 🙂
Chanel
Do u have a recipe for a pint size jar?
Sam
Hi Chanel! You can just cut all of the ingredients in half. It will make about 10 cookies when baked. 🙂
Cierra Boyer
This might be a silly question but does anyone know if this will ship okay?
Sam
Hi Cierra! You shouldn’t have any issues shipping this just make sure it’s padded enough to not break. 🙂
Chanel
Can u make some tags for the pint size jar please.
Sam
I don’t have any plans to at this time but you could always handwrite them on cardstock 🙂
Chanel
I started to make my jars n put all the flour mixture in the jars and noticed when I started to add the brown sugar that this recipe will not fit. I put the sugar in and then I couldn’t even get half of the add ins in.
Sam
Hi Chanel! That is frustrating, I would make sure nothing was mis-measured take a look at the video and see if that helps!
Chanel
Ok. But I can’t split one egg in half. So what would you recommend?
Sam
I would beat the egg in a small dish and use half of it, just eyeballing it will work. 🙂
Claudia
Is there anyway I would be able to halve the recipe? Would it still work? I work at a daycare and would love to make these with my kids but there is alot of them.
Sam
It will work just fine! You’ll just need a smaller jar. 🙂
Suzanne Penn
Hello! I love this idea and recipe, but when I did a couple trials, my batter was really dry and crumbly. I ended up adding another 4 tablespoons of butter to it and that seemed to do the trick. Any ideas why it was turning out so dry? I measured carefully the 2nd time I tried it:) Thank you!
Sam
Hi Suzanne! Generally this is a result of accidentally over-measuring the flour. Have you seen my post on how to measure flour properly? That should help! 🙂
Murelene
I wondered if you have done any other cookie recipe in a jar, like the s’mores cookies?
Sam
Hi Murelene! I have not but it’s a great idea! 🙂
Jeanine
These are the yummiest, soft and chewy cookies I have ever made! My only recommendation is that the receiver promptly make the cookies after receiving the ingredients in the jar. From the time I received mine, I maybe waited about 1 1/2 weeks. By then, I was doing everything possible to try to pry the brown sugar layer out of the jar. I tried multiple utensils before I could finally get through that layer. Will definitely be making more of these in the future, just not from a jar. 🙂
Sam
I’m glad you still enjoyed them, Jeanine! 🙂
Sibel Bialas
How far in advance can I make these cookie jars? Can’t wait to try it out as gifts!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Sibel! We actually cover this in the post 🥰
Emma
Super cute and easy to follow instructions! Making 9 this year as gifts for friends, super excited to see how they turn out. Thank you!