Jar Mixes are NIFTY! (Tutorial)

54 cups of flour. 24 teaspoons of baking soda. 12 teaspoons of salt. 18 cups of brown sugar. 18 cups of sugar. 24 cups of shortening. 48 cups of chocolate chips.....

I know I've done a jar mix tutorial before, but I had to share this really cool recipe called Master Cookie Mix at allrecipes.com. I showed my MOPS group(Mothers Of PreSchoolers) how to make 'em this morning. It's a GREAT recipe if you're making LOTS of jar mixes. Think holiday gift giving, teachers gifts, presents for neighbors, etc.

This recipe produces 6 jars of cookie mix. I had to multiply that TIMES 6. (After reading this recipe & all the reviews I decided to omit the butterscotch chips.) And most of the ingredients were purchased in the bulk foods section of my local grocery store. Each jar mix cost about 2 bucks. Inexpensive! And, somewhat handmade! Right up my gift-giving crafty alley.

The only other supplies you'll need are: rubber bands, twine, fabric & tags to print the recipe onto.

So, here's how ya do it:

Wash your jars & lids & dry them very well. You can get jars at thrift stores or even recycle used mayonnaise or pasta jars!

Following the recipe, mix all your dry ingredients together. You're gonna need a big bowl. So, get out the biggest bowl you think you have. Then put it back & get an even bigger one. It'll need to fit 27 cups of ingredients, plus have some wiggle room for stirring.

Next, mix in 4 CUPS of shortening. This part takes the longest. Once it's mixed together fairly well, get your hands into the mix. It makes the job much easier.

While I was getting cramped hands mixing the massive amounts of ingredients, Tia & my 4 year old were sneaking chocolate chips. So unfair.

Then, add your chocolate chips.

Tia made these awesome funnels from heavy cardstock to help get the mix into the jar.

Measure 4 cups into your quart jar. It might look like it won't fit, but shake & shimmy the jar & most of it will settle to the bottom, leaving room at top for that last scoop.

Trace circles onto fabric that will be large enough to cover the lids of your jars. I just used the lid from a pot as a template. Cut using pinking shears. Now attach a rubber band to the lid to hold the fabric on. I wrapped twine around the band a few times, to hide it. Attach your tag with the baking instructions printed onto it & that's it!! Ready for gift giving!

These next photos were taken at night in my kitchen. While it was late & my family was catching some zzzzz's, I decided to actually bake the cookies to see how they'd taste.

Beat 2 eggs...

...& 1 teaspoon of vanilla. I used my favorite Mexican vanilla, which is almost gone. I might soon have to take a little road trip south of the border...

Dump this mixture into a bowl with your jar mix. Stir.

Scoop by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet & bake at 375degrees F for 10-12 minutes. I used parchment paper which makes for great cookies every time.

While waiting for the cookies to bake, you have my permission to dance in a crazy manner & use your cooking spoon as a microphone.

Warming my toes by the toasty oven...

Seriously, these cookies were the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever baked! And this jar mix can be changed up: use any kind of chocolate or flavored chips, use m&m's instead of chips, add nuts, etc.

I think a "Jar Mix Party" would be a super fun way to get together with your friends & produce some awesome gifts at the same time. Have everyone bring all the ingredients to make a jar mix of some sort: soups, cookies, scones, dips, etc & then everyone can have fun mixing it up & leave with a few different jar mixes to keep or give away!

For more jar mix fun & ideas:

Razzle Dazzle Recipes

All Free Crafts

That's My Home

Budget 101--(ideas on how to present/package your jar mixes)

Could this post get any longer?

Yep.

Here's some photos from my morning at MOPS. This was our messiest meeting yet!! (And thanks Tia for being my paparazzi buddy today!)

(In a moment of sheer baking silliness I accidentally clobbered a MOPS mate with a messy glob of something gooey. Oops. Here's me cleaning her up...)

(That's someone else's finger...)