Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Mix in a Jar: The Holiday Gift Everyone Knows

Every December I fill a row of these jars. A cookie jar is the gift nobody has to explain: you see the oats and the stripe of raisins and you already know what’s going to come out of the oven. It’s the one I give to teachers, the mail carrier and the neighbors who always wave. Ten minutes to layer, and the person who gets it adds butter, an egg and vanilla and bakes 18 cookies.

Why this jar works as a gift

• The ingredients they add are already in their kitchen. Butter, one egg and a teaspoon of vanilla. No buttermilk, no special flour, no mixer required.
• It looks like what it is. Brown sugar, white sugar, raisins and oats make four clear stripes, with the flour sitting on top like snow.
• It keeps. The jar is at its best for about 6 months, so you can make a batch now and hand them out through the holidays.

Pick the right jar

All the layers together come to about 5 cups, so a quart jar is too small. Use a half-gallon jar. That leaves some room at the top: tuck a crumpled square of parchment paper in before the lid so the layers don’t shift on the way.

How to layer it neatly

1. Start with a completely dry jar. Moisture is what turns brown sugar into a brick.
2. Brown sugar first. Press it down firmly with the back of a spoon. It’s the base everything else stands on.
3. White sugar, then raisins. Pour the sugar through a wide canning funnel and level it, then scatter the raisins in an even layer.
4. Oats next. Pack them down; they’re the biggest layer and the one people notice.
5. Flour mix last. Whisk the flour with the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a bowl first, then spoon it on top. Doing it last keeps the flour from dusting the glass while you pour the other layers.

What to write on the tag

The tag is the recipe for someone who doesn’t have the book. Keep it short:

“Heat oven to 350°F. Empty the jar into a large bowl. Mix in ¾ cup softened butter, 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla. The dough is thick. Roll into 2-inch balls, set on a greased baking sheet and bake 10–12 minutes. Makes 18 cookies.”

Add the date you filled the jar and a “Contains: wheat” line. These are vegetarian, but not gluten-free.

Baking tips to pass along

• Use truly soft butter. The dough is stiff, and soft butter is what pulls the dry layers together. A sturdy spoon works; a mixer on low is easier.
• For soft centers, take them out when the edges are set and the middles still look a little underdone. They firm up on the sheet.
• Give them room. Space the balls about 2 inches apart; they spread a little as they bake.

Easy changes

• Cranberries instead of raisins for a tarter cookie, which looks especially nice in December.
• Walnuts: stir in a handful of chopped walnuts with the butter for crunch.
• Dark brown sugar for a deeper molasses flavor.

A note on salt

This one is easy on sodium: about 108 mg per cookie, most of it from the baking soda and the half teaspoon of salt. The book marks it low-sodium as written.

Make it a gift set

In my free gift-tag printable, this jar is part of the “Cookie Jar Trio”: oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip walnut and snickerdoodle, three classics that everyone knows how to eat. Line them up in a basket with a cooling rack or a stack of parchment, and you’ve given someone a whole afternoon of baking.

My free printables include a ready-to-cut tag for this jar with the directions already written, and The Dry Mix Pantry Cookbook has 47 sweets in a jar, including 18 cookie mixes, from cowboy cookies to molasses spice.