Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Mmm, cookies

Tonight at Sparks we made cookies in a jar.

Basically, you take a 1 litre jar and layer the dry ingredients for the cookies in it. You include instructions on how to bake the cookies.

It's definitely our most involved meeting of the year, and we had 4 parents come in to help (for a total of 8 adults). We do an assembly line with one adult at every point along the way (and one adult entertaining the other girls).

This afternoon, I had to print out the instructions. Luckily, my friend Jennifer gave me her old printer a couple of weeks ago. (The other printer is in Wanda's room, so I can't use it while she's sleeping. Since she works nights, that can be a problem.)

Today I set up that printer and downloaded and installed the driver. It worked well, and I was able to get everything printed. (Thanks, Jennifer!)

Making the cookies went well with one minor mishap - one girl dropped her jar on her way out the door and it broke. Luckily, we had made an extra jar as a thank-you for a guest we had last week, so she ended up taking that one home.

Here's the recipe we made:
Oatmeal Raisin Spice Cookie Mix In a Jar

Ingredients:
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (clean inside of jar with dry paper towel after this layer)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup raisins
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup flour mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt

Layer ingredients in order given in a 1 quart wide mouth canning jar. It will be a tight fit, make sure you firmly pack down each layer in place before adding the flour mixture.

Here are the instructions that go with the mix:
Oatmeal Raisin Spice Cookies
Empty cookie mix into large mixing bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly blend mix.
Add:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix until completely blended. You will need to finish mixing with your hands. Shape into walnut-sized balls. Place 2" apart on a parchment lined or lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 11 to 13 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to baking racks to finish cooling.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

4 comments:

  1. I have always wanted to do this. Thanks for the instructions. Might have to try this (this) year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jackie, if you want other recipes to try, e-mail me (through my profile) and I'll send you my collection - I have recipes for cookies, brownies, and soup.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've been thinking about making something like that for my mum. However, she's so hopeless @ cooking and baking that it might not be enough help! Also, she's had brownie and soup ones and never made them. But I still really like the idea!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's definitely not a gift for everyone. Some of the recipes are ridiculous - I have a gingerbread one where the recipient has to add molasses. My theory is that if you have molasses around the house, you can probably figure out how to make your own gingerbread. I like to stick to the ones where you add butter, eggs, and vanilla - I figure most people will have the butter and eggs on hand, and if you skip vanilla it's not the end of the world. But you do still have to put in the effort to make them.

    ReplyDelete