A cookie mix so cute Santa wanted the recipe!

I love homemade gifts at Christmas. Something small and from the heart, and all the better if it’s covered in chocolate. Almost a remembrance of the days when I was younger and proudly made gifts for everyone: “Best Dad Ever” mugs and macaroni necklaces for Mom. In the years past I have given various things from cranberry bread to chocolate covered pretzels, but when I stumbled upon Bakerella’s Cowgirl Cookies, I knew they would be this year’s perfect gift!

Check out those smooth jars, no obtrusive embossed logo here. Love at first sight! Not so in love with the price though. I could only find them at two places: Hobby Lobby ($2.49ea) and Amazon online ($13.99/doz). Amazon sounds like a better deal, but these bad boys do not qualify for free shipping, and would have cost another $13 just to ship. Remember my productive trip to Hobby Lobby when making BellaRoo’s class Christmas star favor? Well, while I was there I looked for the jars. Sold out! Not a one on the shelf. And to add insult to injury they were currently 40% off!

So what’s a girl to do? Call everyday to see if they have restocked, of course! Lucky for me, (or maybe more so for HL), they received more the next day. I quickly put BellaRoo in the car and told her we had to hurry on an adventure! She was not too excited when we pulled up to Hobby Lobby, for the second day in a row, but that didn’t stop me from racing in and clearing their shelves of these jars. (Two dozen to be exact). I found the perfect fabric to go with them, I mean it literally says “Christmas Cookies” right on it. Grabbed two spools of white ribbon and we were out the door.

I am this terrible combination of procrastinator and overachiever. (Sometimes I think I overachieve procrastinating). So of course I forget about these until the very last minute (err, day before Christmas Eve), and then spend hours getting them just right. After my cake-pop attempt and now these Christmas cookies, I have decided that Bakerella is the Fairy Godmother of baking. How else did she get all of these ingredients to fit inside these jars?! When she said to firmly pack down the layers, she meant it. With no magic wand or fancy tool small enough to fit inside these jars, I used this to pack down the layers:

Now you won’t find this at Willams-Sonoma or World Market, but you might find it at your local pet store. Let me explain. We ordered this ‘training bumper’ for our golden retriever, Missy. As I was scavenging my kitchen trying to find something that would work, “The One” casually suggested the dog toy. (He would probably correct me right now that it is not a toy, it’s a training tool, but as far as I’m concerned it’s a toy to play fetch). I laughed at his suggestion and assured him there was no way I would be using the dog toy for anything that had to do with my precious Christmas cookies! And then as soon as he left the room I began to sanitize the “training tool”. (I promise it was brand new and thoroughly cleaned).

I made my first jar, and it was just as adorable as I thought it would be with the festive red and green M&M’s. By about the fourth jar though I was getting a little bored with the whole process. So I lined up about ten jars and began an assembly line of adding the ingredients. Thank you Henry Ford. Oh, and even with my fancy packing tool, I wasn’t able to make enough room for the pecans. A real shame too, I think they would have been delicious!

I found these cute little recipe cards (also at Hobby Lobby, $1.00!) that were perfect for writing the rest of the ingredients and directions on. (I actually cut them off vertically right before the word “Serves” to make them a little smaller as to not block the view of the layers when tied onto the jars).

I put them inside this charming box for easy transport. Look how nicely everyone fits inside. This made me very happy!

I made a batch of these cookies, and they are as tasty as they are beautiful! I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the oats, but they definitely added something to this dense little cookie. Couple tips:

Make sure to soften your butter. The amount of dry ingredients far outweigh the wet, so you need to make this easy to mix.
These are not easy to mix. Once again Bakerella speaks the truth, you will need to use your hands to get these fully combined.
Don’t overcook them. They will firm up as they cool. I overcooked two pans worth before I realized that they just won’t look all the way done when you take them out.