a tasty home-made hostess present

Going to visit a friend or to an impromptu meal but have no present for the hostess? Here’s a cute and tasty idea that is easy to put together even in a rush – ingredients for a batch of cookies with the instructions in a cute bow-wrapped jar where the ingredients are nicely layered. I have bought a stock of these quart-size jars, and they only cost around a dollar fifty or so. But some pasta sauce jars and other household jars look really cute too – just spray-paint the lid or cover it with cute piece of fabric or decorative paper.

Then just add the ingredients in the jar for two dozen cookies, write the instructions and you are set to go. The recipient will need to add some butter, an egg and water, mix the dough and get baking so it’s easy for everyone!

Here’s the recipe we used (in the order I put them in, and this is more for aesthetics than anything else as you want to have a clear layers of ingredients) with Miss A, but one can easily modify it depending on the kind of cookies the recipient might prefer…

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup plain all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and baking powder
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or tart cherries
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant ones)
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels