Cranberry Cookies in a Jar

I have seen jars of cookie mix in stores and they look so cute. I just love the idea, but have never bought them because most of the time (well actually, always) the ingredient list was scary. This Christmas I thought that I should try to make and give away these cookie mixes in a jar. I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com and tried it with a few changes. Oh my goodness, the jars are adorable and the cookies were exceptional. I never thought that a cookie could be that good from a 'mix'!

Pick a nice, clean jar that is big enough to hold the mix. I used 24 ounce pasta sauce jars. I made cloth covers for the top by cutting out a 7 inch circle of cloth with pinking shears and tied it with a ribbon. Attach a cute card with instructions and that's it.

Cranberry Cookies in a Jar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided in half
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (you can also substitute dark chocolate chips)
1/2 cup lightly toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds), whole or roughly chopped

Layer the ingredients (from bottom to top) carefully, trying to keep the layers separate from each other.

                   half of flour (BOTTOM)
                   rolled oats
                   the other half of flour
                   baking soda
                   salt
                   brown sugar
                   cranberries
                   chocolate chips
                   pecans (TOP)

Attach a tag with the following instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a bowl or stand mixer, beat together 4 ounces (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter (at room temperature) with 1/3 cup sugar for 1 minute. Add 1 large egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and mix to combine. Add the entire jar and mix until well combined.

Form dough into the size of golf balls and space the balls about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden (about 15 minutes). The cookies will be soft and soft in the center, but will firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.