Create a thoughtful and inexpensive gift with these DIY Christmas Cookies in a Jar. Equipped with recipes and printable stickers and tags, you can give the homemade gift of the season!
Welcome to day 3 in the 2018 Sally’s Cookie Palooza!
I launched the 6th annual Christmas cookie countdown this week. So far I’ve shared two Christmas cookie recipes including Peppermint Bark Cookies and Spritz Cookies. Today I’m sharing something different—a cookie recipe you can gift.
Let’s make Christmas Cookies in a Jar!
I have two cookies in a jar recipes for you today: Chocolate Peppermint Cookies and Christmas M&M Cookies. You can make one or both for everyone on your gift list. Depends how much he/she likes chocolate! I’ve always loved cookies in a jar as Christmas presents, especially if you gift a baked batch along with the jar. Then the gift recipient will know what the cookies will taste like. Cookies in a jar are a thoughtful and inexpensive DIY gift for anyone who enjoys cookies… which I can only assume is everyone on your gift list!!!
How to Make Cookies in a Jar
Using my recipes below, layer the dry ingredients into jars. The gift recipient is responsible for adding the wet ingredients. I like layering the dry ingredients into the jars in a thoughtful way so each layer stands out. Dark (cocoa powder), light (sugar), dark (brown sugar), light (flour + baking soda + salt), and so on. Use a spoon to layer or, if you’re particular like I am, use a funnel so the layers are extra neat.
The carefully formulated cookie recipes fit into 32-ounce mason jars. Top with the lid and decorate with festive ribbons, a candy cane, or even a small ornament. Go simple or go big. It doesn’t take much crafty talent to tie a ribbon around the jar, I promise. 🙂
The jars would make zero sense to the gift recipient without instructions for actually baking the cookies. For allergen reasons, I think it’s important to share the ingredients inside the jar as well as directions for baking the cookies. I have you covered!
Free Printable Tag Options
- Click this link for the PDF of pictured Christmas tags: Sallys Baking Addiction Christmas Cookies in a Jar Printable
- Click this link for the PDF of Christmas tags that include gram/metric: Christmas Cookie Jar Printables Sally’s Baking
- Click this link for the PDF of regular tags (include gram/metric): Cookie Jar Printables Sally’s Baking
Aren’t the tags so much fun? My dear friend Jess, who has the cutest Etsy shop designed the pictured tags. And team member Trina designed the tags that include gram/metric ingredients. I recommend printing the rectangle recipe cards on thick white paper, like card stock, and the circles on sticker adhesive paper. The circle stickers look adorable on the front of the jars or even placed on the lid. It prints out a full sheet of stickers, so you can use extras for cards, envelopes, gift tags, etc.
So… what do the final baked cookies look like? Eat your heart out!
I like using the Ghirardelli peppermint bark squares for the Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. Red and green M&Ms are perfectly festive for the Christmas M&M Cookies.
I loved both versions, but the chocolate peppermint cookies were absolutely insane. Some friends came over for dinner the day that I tested the recipe and all 2 dozen cookies were gone within 1 hour. Pretty sure that’s a record in my house.
Favorite Holiday Cookie Recipes
Check out my 75+ favorite Christmas cookies, including:
- Pinwheel Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Christmas Sugar Cookies with Easy Cookie Icing
- Chocolate Crinkles
- Gingerbread Cookies & Gingerbread House
- Shortbread Cookies
Would love to know if you gift any cookies in a jar this holiday season! And if you’re looking for other gift ideas for the bakers in your life, be sure to check out my Holiday Baking Gift Guide.
Print
Christmas Cookies in a Jar & Free Printable
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: each yields 1 jar
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Create a thoughtful and inexpensive gift with these DIY Christmas Cookies in a Jar. Equipped with recipes and printable stickers and tags, you can give the homemade gift of the season!
Ingredients
Christmas M&M Cookies in a Jar
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (90g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup (100g) plain mini or regular size M&Ms
- *gift recipient will add: 10 Tablespoons (145g) softened unsalted butter, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies in a Jar
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (21g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (90g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup (90g) chopped peppermint bark*
- *gift recipient will add: 10 Tablespoons (145g) softened unsalted butter, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the jars: Whichever cookie jar recipe you’re making, combine the first 3 ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt). Now it’s time to layer the ingredients in 32-ounce mason jars. I suggest layering the dry ingredients into the jars in a thoughtful way so each layer stands out. Dark (cocoa powder), light (granulated sugar), dark (brown sugar), light (flour + baking soda + salt), dark (chocolate chips), then the peppermint bark or M&Ms. Use a spoon to layer or, if you’re particular like I am, use a funnel so the layers are extra neat. Seal the lids, decorate with ribbon, and gift with the free printable tags.
To bake the cookies: In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, egg, and vanilla extract together on high speed until combined. Don’t worry if the egg isn’t fully combining with the butter; it’ll all come together with the dry ingredients. Add all of the jar ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Cookie dough does NOT require chilling. Drop by rounded Tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper or silicone baking mat lined baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake in a 350°F (177°C) oven for about 10 minutes until the edges are set. Each recipe yields about 2 dozen cookies. Cookies stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Jars can be prepped a few months or weeks ahead of time, though after a month the ingredients begin to settle down into one another, so the layers don’t stand out quite as much.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 32-ounce Mason Jars | Funnel | Adhesive Sticker Paper (for round stickers) | Card Stock (for tags) | Optional items for decorating jars like Candy Canes and Ribbon
- Peppermint Bark: I like using the Ghirardelli peppermint bark squares for the Chocolate Peppermint Cookies.
Received a chocolate peppermint jar as a gift. Waited a month to bake them. The brown sugar had solidified and it was difficult to get it to blend into a consistent dough. The dough was also extremely sticky. Should it have been refrigerated prior to spooning? If so, would be a good idea to put that in the instructions. It spread a lot so the cookies ran together. Thus they are rather straight-edged and trapezoid shaped (from cutting them apart) and look nothing like the photo. All that said, however, they are very tasty! Just not particularly cosmetically uniform. I’m not a novice cookie-baker but maybe I overlooked a step.
Hi Farmgirl, we’re happy to help! Did you start with proper room temperature butter? It’s cooler than most think and makes a big difference in the dough texture and how much cookies spread.
Sally, I’ve been making these as our family Xmas gift to our neighbors every year since you released the recipes. We alternate between the peppermint and m&m’s each year, and they are a huge hit. I love them because they give families something to do together over the holidays. Plus they’re far delicious! Thank you for sharing! If you ever come up with more cookies in a jar recipes, please share!
I made both recipes to try and really didn’t like the chocolate. The m&m’s was like a classic chocolate chip recipe and tasted great! The chocolate recipe, I won’t ever make again.
How do you keep the brown sugar from getting hard?
Hi Tami, the ingredients can begin to settle down into one another over time, and the brown sugar may start to harden in spots. Make sure the jar is sealed as tightly as possible to keep out any moisture.
Please email tags. Thank you.
Hi Dottie, there are 3 different versions of the tags that can be found in the post under the heading “Free Printable Tag Options.”
hi, want to try the peppermint cookies but i dont have peppermint bark.
would your homemade version work?
Hi Njeri, while you can leave our peppermint bark at room temperature for just a few days, it’s best kept in the refrigerator so that it doesn’t get too soft. So, we fear it would simply get too soft and melty in the cookie jars. Feel free to swap the bark with another type of baking chip if needed!
I love your recipes and all the instructions! I use so many—and just found this cookie in a jar recipe for gift giving. It’s perfect!! Thank you. I can’t seem to open the printable tags though…any other tips? I can’t seem to print? I would love to use them-they are so cute!
Hi Keely, it seems to be working when we test it. If you click on the PDF link, a new window pops up and you can print from there. Give it a second to open and load.
Hi Sally, I wanted to bake these cookies ahead to give with the ingredients in the jar. How do they hold up? Has anyone tried it? Thanks!
Hi, I wanted to give a cookie jar gift for your brown sugar cookies. I made them recently and my daughter-in-law loved them to death. Do you have instructions for 32oz jar for the brown sugar cookies?
Hi R, we only have these 2 listed cookie jar recipes at this time, but you can certainly tinker with the dry ingredients for our brown sugar cookies to make a jar version.
The brown sugar got really hard and was hard to get out. How can I solve this problem.
Hi Jaz, the ingredients can begin to settle down into one another over time, and the brown sugar may start to harden in spots. Make sure the jar is sealed as tightly as possible to keep out any moisture.
Thank you for these recipes & tags. I already purchased my Mason Jars, & can’t wait to get started on these gifts.
Love the recipe and tags! Is there a way to purchase the tags so I can edit them? We are making more recipe options for a makers market at school. The Etsy link went to a baby clothes shop.
Hi Jessica, the graphic designer isn’t selling the design/editable format of these tags. You can certainly copy/paste the recipe into a program such as Canva or PicMonkey to create your own, though.
What size are the stickers?
Hi Chelseac, the stickers are a little over 2 inches in diameter.
I love the idea of your cookie in a jar recipes. Do you have one that doesn’t include chocolate? I want to make these for Christmas presents but I have a family member that can’t have chocolate.
Hi Rebecca! We don’t at this time, but you could make the version with mini M&Ms and swap for another non-chocolate baking chip or add-in.
Top Notch Cookies Perfect All Year Long – I made eight jars of the M&M cookie mix to give out for Mother’s Day 2023 gifts. I used leftover bags of pastel Easter M&Ms and used a 50:50 blend of 75 grams of dark brown sugar and 75 grams of light brown sugar. I made a batch myself and discovered that I needed an extra 1.5 tablespoons (for a total of 11.5 TBSPs) to achieve a sufficiently pliable, moist dough. That may have been needed only due to the dark brown sugar in my pantry being a little dried out. Whatever the cause, the extra butter did the trick and the resulting cookies are FABULOUS! I also made two of the gift jars using King Arthur 1:1 gluten free flour for GF friends. I haven’t received feedback yet but will post if I do get some sense of how those batches turned out. Meanwhile, this is a super keeper of a recipe and I’ll certainly be making more batches to give! (Hmmmm, Halloween M&Ms aren’t too far off…) Thank you, Sally!
I’ve made the Chocolate Peppermint Cookies in a Jar! My most requested cookie! I substituted the peppermint bark for Andes Mints!
I test drove this recipe using a handheld mixer before making a jar to use as a gift. I found that it took a long time to get the dough to come together. It stayed “sandy” for quite some time, but eventually I succeeded. Dough was very thick. The cookies were fine, but some of the M&Ms were a bit mauled from the mixing and that wasn’t the experience I wanted the recipient to have. Don’t know why that happened; I’m an experienced baker and not prone to measurement errors. I tried the recipe a second time but this time melted the butter. It was a winner. The dough came together in a large bowl in about 30 seconds with a wooden spoon. It just doesn’t get any easier than that. Recipient doesn’t even have to have a mixer. So 4 stars for the instructions as written, 5 stars with melted butter.
Is it just me or the M&m recipe does not fit in the 32 oz jar…?
I just made two jars of the M and M cookies in a 32 ounce jar and it fit perfectly, with room at the top.
I made these for Christmas gifts this year and they turned out so adorable! I love the printable tags. It really completed the gift and made it look so pretty. Thank you for sharing!
This recipe is the worst thing I have tasted in years!
I wonder why? This was one of the most creative (and absolutely delicious!!) gifts I’ve given. A grand slam.