Cowboy Cookies in a Jar {a Great Gift for a Teacher, Shower or Holiday!}

A couple of years ago, I was given my grandma’s canning jars. When I told her I wanted them, I never envisioned how many there were. She showed me eight rows of pint and quart jars four deep! I do some canning as well as use them to store dry goods like pasta, rice and snacks, but I found that they are also great for gift-giving.

One of my favorite recipes in a jar is Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Peanut Cookies (aka Cowboy Cookies in a Jar). They’ve made a good gift for teachers, bridal showers and Christmas.  I adapted a recipe from an old Quick Cooking magazine to fit into a quart-sized canning jar. Ingredients and assembly instructions follow. Enjoy!

Cowboy Cookies in a Jar (Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Peanut Cookies)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts

Assembly Instructions

Layer your ingredients in a 1 quart jar in the order shown above (flours go on the bottom). Press each layer very firmly before adding the next layer. As you add more ingredients, you’ll notice that the flours will press down even more. Use a wide-mouthed jar if possible and press the ingredients down with a flat-bottomed glass, vase or other kitchen item. In a pinch, you can use a flexible spatula/scraper, but it doesn’t work as well.

Tie or tape on a card with the following instructions

Cowboy Cookie Mix in a Jar 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 2. In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in the entire contents of the jar. Use your hands or a heavy duty electric mixer to finish mixing. Shape into golfball sized balls. 3. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

If you want to get creative, you can also share the instructions like this:

Howdy Partner! Rustle up some mighty good treats for you and your fellow riders! Heat your campfire to 350 degrees and grease up your tin pan. Dump this jar into the biggest bowl you can find and mix it real good. Throw in a stick of melted butter, a whipped up egg and a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix with your five cleanest fingers till it looks like cookie dough should. Roll ’em into little balls in your pan and bake for 11-12 minutes. Makes 18 big ol’ cookies, or 2 dozen cowgirl-sized.

If you’d like, top the jar with some cute fabric before you screw on the jar ring or simply tie a ribbon around the closed jar as shown below. I put the chocolate chips at the very top as shown in the photo but when I did it again, I put in the chocolate chips and THEN the peanuts so I could see the deep brown color of the chips better.