Festive Cookies in a Jar: Many Ways

Why not make your own Christmas presents this year? These pretty festive cookies in a jar are easy to make. And they’re bound to delight friends, family or work colleagues. This recipe is for white chocolate and cranberry, but you’ll find plenty of ideas for alternative versions. Or just get creative and make your own instead.

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In the excitement leading up to the Liskeard Christmas Vintage Market, I came across an idea for making up a cookie mix and presenting it in a jar. What a fun item to try selling at the stall I was helping out on. And if they didn’t sell, I could gift them for Christmas.

That first time I made three jars: 1) cranberry and dark chocolate chip, 2) cranberry and white chocolate chip, 3) raisin and white chocolate chip. They all sold. Number two is particularly festive and that’s the one I’ve given the recipe for.

Each jar makes about twenty cookies.

Festive Cookies in a Jar

In these days of lavish and wasteful packaging, these make a great low waste alternative gift. They are fun and attractive in their own right. You get to make some cookies (always a good thing) and you have a handy jar for reuse.

Festive cookies in a jar are also incredibly easy to make. It’s just a case of weighing out the ingredients and then layering them up into clear glass jars. Do make sure to sterilise the jars properly first though.

The jars created quite a talking point at the Christmas market. And I sold two out of the three, which I was well chuffed with. I’ve made them as presents several times since. I’ve also made the recipe for myself many times over the years and they work like a dream.

In fact, these are great cookies to get the kids involved in. All they need to do is empty the jar, crack in an egg, melt some butter and stir it altogether. Then it’s simply a case of spooning the mixture out onto non-stick or lined baking trays. Alternatively they can roll them into balls instead, which can be quite a fun activity.

Festive Cookies In A Jar: Step-by-Step

Step 1. Find A Jar.

Find a jar or jars if you’re going for multiple ones. Make sure they’re all clean, dry and sterilised. See further down the post for the best jars to use.

Step 2. First Layer

Whisk flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a bowl so that they’re well combined and there are no lumps.

Use a spoon to carefully place the flour mixture in the bottom of the jar so that you get as even a layer as possible. You can use a jam funnel to make the process faster but the flour might dust the sides of the jar making it harder to see clear layers.

Tap the jar sharply on the counter a few times so the flour is fairly compact.

Step 3. Second Layer

Carefully spoon in the sugar. Again you’re trying to get as even a layer as possible.

Tamp the sugar down with the back of a spoon or use a small bottle. It needs to be fairly compact so that the ingredients don’t mix in the jar and to ensure there’s enough room in the jar for all of the ingredients.

Step 4. Third Layer

For easy, you can use white chocolate chips for this festive cookies in a jar recipe. They tend to look pretty too. But it’s absolutely fine to chop up a chocolate bar and use that instead. Just make sure the chunks are fairly small ones.

Pour the chocolate chips over the sugar. Then even them out, making sure there are plenty around the sides.

Step 5. Fourth Layer

Likewise, scatter the dried cranberries over the top of the chocolate chips, ensuring the layer is as even as possible.

Top Tip

At this point you can make a dip in the middle and push the cranberries to the side. I didn’t do this in the photos you can see in this post. The result is oats that have gone down the sides and covered up most of the cranberries.

Step 6. Final Layer

Pour the oats into the jar. If it doesn’t look as though they’ll go in, either press them down with the back of the spoon or give the jar a few taps on the counter top.

Close the lid.

Step 7. Label

It’s important to label the jar so that the recipient knows what they’re getting. You’ll also need to write out or print a card with the recipe instructions.

I also like to cover the top with festive tissue paper or material and tie with colourful twine.

What Type Of Jar To Use?

For this recipe you’ll need a jar with a 500ml capacity. The best jars to use are tall straight sided ones with screw top lids. These show off the layers particularly well and are easy to tie twine or ribbons around.

These screw top preserving jars* are ideal.

That said, it’s also nice to give a clip top jar as part of the present. I don’t know about you, but I love clip top jars. They’re so useful for so many things and they’re attractive too. The layers don’t look quite as good and it’s more difficult to tie them with paper and tags, but hey, you get an extremely useful jar.

How Long Do Festive Cookies In A Jar Last?

Your festive cookies in a jar will last at least three months, assuming your ingredients are fresh. You’ll need to store it in a cool dry place though. If you include nuts, it’s probably best to bake those cookies within a month.

Festive Cookies In A Jar: Alternative Versions

Once you have the base recipe for these festive cookies in a jar, you can swap the cranberries and white chocolate for pretty much anything you like. Try another dried fruit such as raisins or chopped apricots and go for milk or dark chocolate instead of white. You can even leave the chocolate chips out altogether. Here are a few more ideas.

Choc Chip Cookies In A Jar

If you like the idea of good old choc chip cookies with no other adornment, go with a 100g bar of chocolate and ditch the cranberries. Use a good quality milk or dark chocolate and chop it into small pieces.

Or you could switch out those chocolate chip cookies and use a flavoured bar of chocolate instead. My favourite is chilli chocolate, but orange chocolate and coffee chocolate are good bets too.

Nutty Choc Chip Cookies In A Jar

Nuts make a lovely addition to these cookies. Hazelnuts work particularly well with dark or milk chocolate, but use whatever nuts the recipient likes best. Dump the cranberries and use the same quantity of roughly chopped nuts instead. Use white, milk or dark chocolate to accompany them.

Fruit & Nut Cookies In A Jar

Swap the cranberries for raisins and the chocolate for the nuts of your choice. Just roughly chop the nuts before adding to the mix.

Ginger Choc Chip Cookies In A Jar

If you know any ginger fans, then treat them to some ginger choc chip cookies. Swap the cranberries for chopped crystallised ginger and the white chocolate for dark chocolate. Either use chips or chop up a bar of chocolate.

Spice It Up

Mix some sweet spices into the sugar before adding to the jar.

Gluten-Free Cookies In A Jar

You can easily make these festive cookies in a jar suitable for coeliacs and those with a gluten intolerance. Just ensure that the oats are gluten-free (many aren’t) and replace the flour with a good quality gluten-free one.

Dairy-Free Cookies In A Jar

Swap the butter for two tablespoons of a neutral oil, such as sunflower and you have dairy-free cookies in a jar.

White Chocolate And Cranberry Cookies

I’ve made several batches of these festive cookies in a jar now. White chocolate and cranberry cookies are the most popular because the flavours are just so festive. I can report that they work really well and are absolutely delicious. Of course, I use wholemeal spelt flour rather than plain, but that just makes them better.

You’ll see I have a similar, but slightly different recipe for cranberry white chocolate cookies elsewhere on the blog. To that one, I’ve added crunchy walnuts to the mix.

I’ve made a few with crystallised ginger and dark chocolate chips as well. You can find out how to make these further up the post. But I also have a similar for oaty ginger chocolate chip cookies. This one doesn’t contain egg though.

Other Edible Gifts You Might Like

• Chilli chocolate fudge
• Chocolate crinkle cookies with roasted hazelnuts
• Cinnamon & honey Christmas stars
• Coconut bliss balls (vegan)
• Goat’s cheese chocolate truffles
• Spiced apple chutney

For more edible gift ideas take a look at this homemade edible gifts galore post. Alternatively head to my gifts category.

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these festive cookies in a jar for anyone, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips or favourite flavour combinations? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

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If you’d like more oat recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.

Choclette x

Festive Cookies In A Jar. PIN IT.

Festive Cookies In A Jar – The Recipe

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