Rainbow Birthday Cookie Jar!!

It was my friend Louise's birthday yesterday! We don't normally exchange gifts, but as we meet earlier in the week for dinner (sushi!!) I couldn't show up empty handed! So, of course it's my first thought to bake something.

However she is doing so well on her weight loss journey that I didn't want to sabotage it with a big batch of something that would need to be eaten within a few days. In comes the jar idea! I did look around and found the cowboy cookies in a jar on Bakerella's blog so I went with that. I changed the name to Rainbow Birthday Cookies!!

Here's what I did and/or changed to work for people in the UK (sorry I still used cups!!)

layer your jar in this order 
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms I used Smarties
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped



I put a cupcake wrapper to cover the lid and I made my label with an iPad app that I printed off and layered on colored paper.

I hand wrote the instructions which are:

add: 114g butter, soft (1/2 cup or 1 stick); 1 slightly beaten egg; 1 teaspoon vanilla
to make: Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F Pour jar contents into a large bowl, stir to combine. Then beat in butter, egg, and vanilla. Roll into 1 inch balls (walnut size) and place 2 in apart on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

I've told her that it's probably best to use within 6 months although I did see some say that her's were good up to a year? Not sure I would push it that long. Baking powder/soda would probably lose their potency.

This was fun and easy to make! A perfect gift!!
Omit the nuts, of course, if the receiver is allergic.

Update: she couldn't wait!
And was kind enough to send me some pictures!!
:0)