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...)

It's Snowing in 'WhiMSy love' World!!!

Holy snowstorm Crafty Girl! Well, it's not a snowstorm, but LOOK at all the snow! YAY! My girls love it. Me, not so much. I love to look at it, but I'm not really into the cold/wet thing. I love the yummy hot drinks that usually accompany fun snowy days though!


Awwww, look at the sweet winter lovebirds.....


Here's #1 (of 2) trying to get in a snowball fight with the photographer (that would be me.) By evening there will be about 7-9inches of snow & MORE predicted through Thursday!


But let me back up for a second & let you know how my morning began. Mr. WhiMSy love decided it would be funny to have a little pyrotechnic display of sorts. Lysol & a flaming match produced this spectacle for the girls. Seconds after this picture was taken, the smoke alarm (located 2 feet away from the flame) started screeching at an ear-deafening pitch & 2 little girls were frantically screaming. Fun times.


So anyway, after our day of fire & ice, I baked these cookies. These are the BEST invention evers! Just seperate & bake! Sorry to all you cookie purists for my enthusiasm.

And I had the MOST fantastically fun time last night painting! I cranked out a few more super cute cupcake characters. They are: Miss Diva Cupake, Clown Cupcake, Cupcake Boy (he's a superhero), The Baby Cupcake Triplets (I might name them later), Girly Girl Cupcake (I have to come up with a sweet girly name for her), & "Jealous Muffin".





Oh! And I actually got the courage up to order the button machine today!! Yahoo!