Christmas Cookies in a Jar Recipe

Christmas is just around the corner and one of my favorite things to give as a gift is food because I love making it and eating it. I can’t wait to show you how easy this Christmas Cookies in a Jar Recipe is and your kids will love creating them as well!

Christmas cookies in a jar makes the cutest Christmas gift!

With Christmas just around the corner I thought I would share with you a super fun (and frugal) gift idea – Christmas Cookies in a Jar. This is crazy easy to make. Oh… and did I mention how frugal it is too?

This cookie in a jar recipe creates delicious M&M cake mix cookies. Generally, I stock up on cake mixes when they go on sale at my local grocery store so that I always have some in my pantry and can create delicious and easy cake mix cookies for my family.

Around Christmas time is a great time of year to look for them on sale too so you can stock up to make these adorable m&m cookies in a jar that are perfect for Christmas gifts for your friends and family!

What are cake mix cookies?

If you haven’t tried cake mix cookies, you need to try them soon….like tomorrow! They are delicious cookies that can be created with only 4 ingredients and they are generally done in less than 15 minutes.

My family and I love them. I make cake mix cookies when I want to create cookies but am feeling lazy about it. No one can tell that I saved tons of time because I didn’t have to mix up the dry ingredients first but the cookies still taste just as amazing as traditional cookies

So what you generally do is mix your favorite type of cake mix with oil, eggs (your wet ingredients) and sometimes ¼ cup powder sugar or a mix in ingredient (like m&ms or chocolate chips) in a small bowl and this creates a delicious cookie batter that can be used to make amazing cookies in no time at all!

Here are a few of my favorite cake mix cookies that I hope you try this week!

Which ones are you going to try first? I promise, you can’t lose with these cookies!

What is the different between cake mix cookies and regular cookies?

The main different is the amount of ingredients that is needed to create an amazing cookie.

For a traditional homemade cookie, you generally need granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Then don’t forget about butter, egg and vanilla! I can’t even name them all. And if you want to create chocolate cookies, you’ll need cocoa powder too.

Whoa…that’s SO many ingredients! I’m sure I missed some too.

Cake mix cookies simplify the process because you use a cake mix instead of all those other ingredients. You mix it with 2-3 other ingredients and BAM, you have delicious cookies!

Also, one thing to remember is that cake mix cookie batter is significantly thicker than traditional cookie batter, so don’t worry if yours is thick…you’re doing it right!

Ok, now that you know what cake mix cookies are, let’s learn how to make this cookies in a jar recipe.

1 Chocolate cake mix
1 bag of Christmas M&Ms (we used peanut butter m&ms, but any kind will do)
1 Quart size mason jar (Amazon has several on sale)
Christmas ribbon

See…only 4 ingredients. I told you these would be easy!

How to make Christmas cookies in a jar:

Ok, don’t panic, because this is hard. HA! 🙂 If you have been following me for awhile, you know that I’m joking! I don’t like anything too complicated and that goes for Christmas gifts too!

This recipe is so easy to throw together, your kids can do it for you.

First put the cake mix in the mason jar that you chose. Then pour the M&Ms in the jar and fill it up to the top. Add your lid.

Then decorate the outside of the mason jar by adding ribbon so it looks cute and like a little present.

Finally, the most important part is to add a Tag or note to give with the Christmas cookies mix in a jar that has instructions on how to finalize the cookies.

Yep… that is it! It is really that easy!

Here are the instructions to add to a tag for the jar:

In a large bowl, beat together 2 eggs and ½ cup Vegetable or Canola Oil in medium bowl.
Pour in entire contents of jar, and stir well with spoon.
Chill dough for 20 minutes in the refrigerator prior to baking.
Then, drop by rounded tablespoon onto an un-greased non-stick cookie sheet.
Bake for approx. 8 – 9 minutes {or until done} at 350 degrees.
Then enjoy delicious Christmas cookies!

Isn’t this just adorable!?

I know that teachers and neighbors love gifts in a jar. They are homemade yet still fun. Make this simple and frugal gift with your kids!

I know their teachers would love to know that their students made these Christmas cookies in a jar all on their own.

I buy all my mason jars on Amazon or at the Dollar Store.

As you can see in the picture, I found a cute Christmas jar at the Dollar store but you can use a regular jar and add scrapbook paper to make the top cute and Christmasy (is that a word?).

Also…. buy your ribbon at the dollar store as well. One roll costs just a $1 and will last for 4-5 gifts in a jar. Woohoo!

What other types of cookies can you make in a jar?

These pint mason jar cookie recipes can be changed up to make it the perfect gift for your friends and family. These easiest ways to change up this recipe is to use a different type of cake mix.

You can make sugar cookies in a jar by using a vanilla cake mix instead of a chocolate one. You could still leave in the m&ms and it would make an amazing cookie. This would work for any non-chocolate lovers that you would like to make this for.

Also, you can create chocolate chip cookies by using a vanilla cake mix with approximately ¾ cup of chocolate chips instead of the m&ms.

This would go perfect with a chocolate chip cookies in a jar printable tags outlining how the jar mix can be used to create amazing chocolate chip cookies and who doesn’t love a classic chocolate chip cookie?!

What other jar recipes can you create?

I love jar recipes to give as gifts because they are so cute and very practical. Here are a few other recipes that can be created in a jar as well to give to friends and family.

Any of these would also work great in a jar to be given as gift. You could also make a ton and give 2-3 to each person on your list. I know that they will love them all.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and please leave us a comment to let us know what you think!

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