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If you’re like me—in panic mode/denial about the date—and need a quick, thoughtful Christmas gift, you can throw together this cookie-mix-in-a-jar present in a few minutes and maybe also spur a conversation with your recipient about zero-waste and plastic-free living. Think of it as a quiet, delicious way to convert people 😉
I bought all of the ingredients for this cookie mix in bulk, using glass jars. You can also use cloth bags. Yes, I did add a bit of packaging but I salvaged the ribbon from an event at work and my kids made the paper that I wrote the baking directions on. By the way, I haven’t declared war on Christmas with my yellow ribbon. It just happened to fit the jar better than a red one I had…
Usually cookie recipes call for creaming the butter and sugar together, followed by the eggs and vanilla, dry ingredients and then add-ins like chocolate chips and nuts. I worried these cookies would not have a good consistency since you dump so much in at once (the dry ingredients, sugars, chocolate chips and nuts if using). But they turned out well and tasted delicious. My mom—still a fantastic baker at 83—always mixes cookie dough with her hands and I would recommend that with these to get everything mixed together well.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
I used a 1-quart glass jar for this (who doesn’t want more jars!). The recipe yields about four dozen cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Directions for Assembling Your Mix
After adding each layer, pack it down a bit so everything fits in the jar.
1. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Place in the bottom of the jar.
2. Add the chocolate chip layer.
3. Add the brown sugar layer.
4. Add the granulated sugar layer.
Directions to Attach to the Jar
You could write these inside a card or on an index card. I hope you can read these directions…
Uh oh looking over my directions, I realize I have an edit… In step 2, insert “add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts if desired.” I made my cookies for this post with nuts.
Happy holidays!
My daughter and I did this together one year and handed them out as tasty teacher gifts! It was so much fun! Thanks for rekindling this great memory Anne Marie 🙂
Oooh, nice idea for a teacher gift, Karen. Thanks for the tip 🙂
I’m with you–panic mode/denial!!! Thx for quick/easy tip (did I forget to mention, delicious?!!!)
Thanks Lori. I gravitate toward easy/delicious 🙂
The non-profit I teach for handed these out to the kids in our classes this year – it was a great hit.
I tend to reach to my canning shelves this time of year for gifts too. I had such a banner pepper year, it’s pepper jelly for all!
It’s a simple idea that everyone seems to like. Someone gave me hot chocolate mix in a jar several years ago and I never forgot it. We all loved it. OMG I envy your red pepper jelly recipients. What a great gift! I used to give away homemade jam when I made it. People loved it.
[…] Chef has a lovely recipe for a Choc-chip cookie kit in a jar which will be perfect for older nieces. I’m sure their chocolate mad mama […]
Yum! I love this idea 🙂
if you have time, check out my latest waste-reduction, creative hobby at ‘Blue Planet Dolls – Facebook’.
All the best for 2016, Anne Marie!
Thank you Veronique 🙂 I checked out your Facebook page. Love what you’re doing! What a great idea. Imagine if we all restored the old stuff we had rather than buying new stuff. Thanks for salvaging these discarded dolls. I see a children’s book in here somewhere…an unloved doll finds a home… Happy new year!
Apparently if only 10% of the middle class in the west stopped consuming new stuff the global economy would crash!!
Holy cow. Well I say let it crash. It’s artificial, unlike, say, water. (I’m being flippant here, but we need to change our consumer behavior.)
Oh yay! I was inspired by your Zero Waste Meal kits below and made my own jars this year: curried lentil soup, cowboy cookies, cocoa, “energy balls” (for my paleo friends), and sriracha salt! Your chocolate chip cookie jar looks amazing!
Nice! I would love to get any one of those for a gift. What did you put in your soup? We eat lots of lentils around here.
[…] If you’ve made it to the 31st of the month, why not bake yourself a zero-waste treat?! You deserve […]
[…] If you’ve made it to the 31st of the month, why not bake yourself a zero-waste treat?! You deserve […]
[…] shops sell old-fashioned loose sweets by weight in paper bags; stores are nationwide. Or give a Christmas Cookie mix in a jar so the recipient can get involved in the making […]
making cookies is easy, but doing it zero waste is the hard part. I have no idea how to get chocolate chips without buying them in waste (packaging) – how did you go about this recipe without creating waste? I must know!! right now in my zero-waste journey I’m doing cookies without chocolate chips which is so much less fun.
Hi Cameron,
I am still able to buy chocolate chips in bulk at one shop here during Covid. If you can’t buy them in bulk, you can try to buy a huge package of them (if having a huge quantity of chocolate around isn’t too dangerous). You’ll have a smaller plastic to chocolate ratio than you would buying several packages of chocolate chips. You could also try buying a large chocolate bar in foil and paper and cutting that up. You might be able to recycle the packaging. Good luck on your quest!
~ Anne Marie
Please could you tell me how much a stick of butter weighs? We don’t have it in sticks in UK. Thanks
A pound of butter here contains four sticks, so 1/4 pound or 113.5 grams.