I have a special treat for you: a “twofer” of recipes for “cookies in a jar”. The month’s offerings arose from Sweet Thing’s “sweet tooth” AND a desire to find a quicker way to satisfy that desire for sweets. A while back (like several years, if I’m being honest), I came across a recipe for “Oatmeal Lace Cookies” that I tried, liked, and creating several jars of the dry ingredients — “cookies in a jar”! However, I haven’t made any since then, primarily because I misplaced the recipe. Then, I came across a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I thought would be perfect for making up several batches of “cookies in a jar”. After a bit of searching and tweaking, I finally had not one, but two “cookies in a jar” recipes — one for the oatmeal lace cookies AND another for chocolate chip cookies!
One day, I decided to indulge Sweet Things’s “sweet tooth” by making up two jars’ worth of cookies — one jar of the oatmeal lace cookies mix and my one and only jar of chocolate chip cookie mix. Both turned out to be delicious, and were soon just tasty memories. I really enjoyed not having to measure out the dry ingredients or having to cream the butter and sugar together (something I do NOT like doing for some reason)! By having my “cookies in a jar” stash, all I’ve got to do to satisfy a “sweet tooth” (his or mine) is grab a jar of the dry ingredients, dump the contents into a bowl, add the wet ingredients (butter, egg, vanilla, etc), mix everything together, drop onto cookie sheets, and bake! Hot-out-of-the -oven cookies in almost no time at all!
To prevent myself from misplacing these recipes again AND to give y’all a special (and yummy!) treat, I decided to feature both of these recipes in this month’s “Tasty Tuesdays Twofer” post. And now, without further ado, here are the two “cookies in a jar” recipes:
Oatmeal Lace Cookies
(from: littlehouseliving.com)
1/2 cup all purpose flour (gluten-free flour can be used)
1/2 cup brown sugar (raw sugar can be used)
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 Tablespoons milk
6 Tablespoons butter
Melted chocolate (optional)
Directions
- In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. (In other words, dump the contents of the jar into a large bowl.).
- Melt the butter and add it along with the milk into the mixture (of dry ingredients); stir until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Drop by teaspoonful onto a cookie sheet. (Because these have quite a bit of butter in them, it’s not necessary to grease the cookie sheets first.)
- Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes (depending on how hot your oven is), until the edges start to get very slightly brown.
- Let the cookies cool before removing them from the cookie sheet. Drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired.
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Chocolate Chip Cookies in a Jar
1 cup PLUS 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
3/4 cups chopped toasted walnuts or pecans (optional)
6 Tablespoons butter (either softened or melted)
1 large egg (beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt; put into a jar.
- Add both kinds of sugar on top of the flour mixture.
- Top the jar off with 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, and the nuts if using. (Note: Adding the nuts may affect the length of time that the “cookies in a jar” mix will be shelf-stable.)
To make chocolate chip cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease (or line with parchment paper) two baking sheets.
- Mix the contents of the jar with the butter, beaten egg, and vanilla extract; drop the dough by heaping teaspoon or tablespoon onto the baking sheets, 2-3 inches apart.
- Bake until the cookies are just slightly golden on top and the edges are browned, 8-10 minutes, switching oven racks and rotating the sheets halfway through cooking.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2-3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to completely cool.
And there you have ’em: Not one but TWO tasty ways to satisfy someone’s “sweet tooth”. Because I don’t really like measuring out the dry ingredients, I’ll probably spend an afternoon measuring out LOTS of jars of ingredients, using both of these “cookies in a jar” recipes! In fact, I’ve already got a spot picked out for storing the full jars — on the top shelf of one of my baker’s racks in the kitchen. Within reach and ready to be of service when a “sweet tooth” starts acting up…
I hope you’ll give one (or both) of these recipes a try and then let me know your thoughts. In addition, if you’ve got other “cookies in a jar” (or even “gifts in a jar”) recipes that you wouldn’t mind sharing, I’d love to see ’em!
Take care AND happy munching!