This Cookie Mix in a Jar is the perfect way to give someone a shortcut to homemade cookies. A delicious and festive gift!
Simply fill a jar with pre-measured dry ingredients and give the jar as a gift along with instructions for baking. Choose from M&M cookies or chocolate chip cookies.
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Why make cookie mix in a jar
This is a thoughtful and affordable gift that is perfect any time of year. Who doesn’t love freshly baked cookies? These jars are made with pantry staples, making them cost a fraction of what you’d pay for store bought cookie jars.
I especially love this gift for kids! Kids can assemble them and give them as gifts, or you can gift them to kids and they can make homemade cookies with minimal effort.
Ingredients needed
- Flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- M&M’s and/or chocolate chips
How to Make Cookies in a Jar
To assemble the jars, all you do is measure the dry ingredients and layer them in a jar. It couldn’t be simpler!
You can layer them in any order you choose. I like the flour, leavening, and salt on the bottom. I put some chocolate chips/M&M’s in the middle and some on top.
Assembly tips
- It is important that your ingredients are layered into the jars carefully so that the layers don’t mix too much; this makes for a prettier presentation.
- Roll up a paper plate to use as a funnel to cleanly add the bottom layer into the jar.
- Use a spoon to carefully add the M&M’s and chocolate chips. Don’t dump them in too quickly or they’ll sink.
- Use fresh ingredients to ensure the best quality cookies.
- Attach the printable recipe card with the jar for easy baking.
- Decorate the jar with fabric and/or ribbon. I use a 6.5 inch circle of fabric.
Prefer to bake cookies?
Skip the jars and make our M&M Cookies or Chocolate Chip Cookies.
More holiday treats
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Recipe
Cookie Mix In A Jar
Ingredients
- 1⅔ cups all purpose flour, spooned into the measuring cup and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1⅓ cups M&M's and/or chocolate chips, see note
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1-quart Mason jar
Instructions
Assembling jars:
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Pour into the bottom of a 1-quart mason jar (I roll up a paper plate to use as a funnel). After this you can layer the remaining ingredients however you'd like. I usually top the flour mixture with granulated sugar, followed by 1 cup of M&M's/chocolate chips, brown sugar, and remaining ⅓ cup M&M's/chocolate chips. Be sure to spoon the ingredients in gently so they stay layered. Seal with the lid and decorate with ribbon and/or fabric (see note).
Recipe to include with the jar (printable version in notes):
- In a large bowl, whisk ½ cup of melted and cooled unsalted butter, 1 large egg, 1 large egg yolk, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Add the contents of the jar and gently stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Scoop 2-tablespoon portions of dough. Place the dough balls onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers of the cookies are slightly underdone. Place baking sheets on racks and cool completely. Tip: For prettier cookies, use the back of a spoon to shape the edges of the cookies when they come out of the oven.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Becca
Hi! My jar was a little smaller than the one needed, so a little less than 1/4 cup of the flour mixture didn’t fit in the jar. Do you think that will be okay or should I hold off on gifting them?
Allison
You can leave out some of the mix-ins (M&M’s/chocolate chips) but all of the other ingredients should be in there in order for the cookies to turn out properly.
Jordan Campbell
Why is my jar so much larger than the ingredients in it? I have so much extra space I wasn’t hoping for ! Almost went with the 24 oz jars wish I did…
Allison
This is in the notes section of the recipe: This cookie mix comes just short of reaching the top of a 1-quart Mason jar. I decorate the top of the jar with fabric which covers the inch of open space at the top of the jar. If you would prefer to fill the jar all the way, you can increase the amount of M&M’s to 1 ¼ cup.
Courtney
What is the wet ingredients I should be putting on the tag for them to Mix ins for the wet ingredients?
Allison
Hi, Courtney. It’s in the recipe card.
Recipe to include with the jar:
In a large bowl, whisk ½ cup of melted and cooled unsalted butter, 1 large egg, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Add the contents of the jar and gently stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined (dough will be crumbly). Chill for 30 minutes.
Form golf ball sized portions of dough, pressing firmly as you form the ball. Place the dough balls onto lined baking sheets. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers of the cookies are still slightly underdone. Place baking sheets on a rack to cool.
hj
There is much more than 1 inch space at the top – I have about 3 inches of space, which looks pretty sparse. Suggestions? Adding 1/4 c. m&m’s isn’t enough.
Allison
Are you sure you measured everything correctly?
Hannah
Is this recipe per mason jar ?
Allison
Yes.
Phoebe Ervin
Hi! Allison! Thank you for sharing the recipe! I finally found 24 jars after searching everywhere! However, I was unable to find the holiday colored m&ms. I could only find the holiday peanut version so I grabbed six bags. Do you think it will make a difference in the end result? I don’t want them to not look or taste great when prepared. Any advise would help. If I need to omit the m&ms, I picked up a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, just to be safe. Thoughts? Thank you and happy holidays!!!!
Allison
Hi, Phoebe. That should be fine. I would recommend half M&M’s and half chocolate chips.
Jessica
I would really love to see a recipe for a pint size mason jar. Is that possible? Thanks.
Allison
That means there will only be about 2 cups of dry ingredients, which will make a small batch of cookies. You could try adapting this recipe: https://celebratingsweets.com/small-batch-chocolate-chip-cookies/ Good luck playing around with it!
Vie
How long do they keep in the jars?
Allison
I recommend baking within 2 months (assuming all of the ingredients are fresh).
Heidi Frank
I made several jars of cookies and was very disappointed to find that you did not include printable labels with baking instructions with the gifts. I can’t seem to find fillable labels that I can put the instructions on and am not sure what to do with the jars at this point except to make the darn cookies myself and give them as gifts. I had already baked my heart for the season, not to mention that it wasn’t what I wanted to give and I had already spent so much time putting together 18 jars!
Allison
Heidi, you can print the portion of the recipe that needs to go with the jars. Simply attach that to the jars with a ribbon or tape.
Marion Elizabeth
Love this gift idea!
Selena
Perhaps put the brown sugar down after the flour mix, the m&m’s sink regardless & putting brown sugar on top buried them.
Misti
Can this recipe be made gluten free by using gf flour?
Allison
That should work. Just be sure to use a 1:1 gluten free baking blend (not almond flour/coconut flour etc).