I love the Holidays and one of my favourite things is giving presents, specifically edible ones like a mason jar vegan cookie mix Christmas gift.
Vegan cranberry dark chocolate chip cookies are such a delight that you can’t help but want to share. Using a mason jar you can gift the cookie mix to your friends and family – it’s the perfect stocking filler Christmas treat!
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Nothing says Happy Holidays like the smell of freshly baked cookies, and this recipe for vegan (dairy-free and eggless) Christmas cookies is sure to be a crowd-pleaser whether your giftee is on a plant-based diet or not.
I love to feed people (just ask anyone that knows me) and so for me, this makes one of the best cheap DIY food gifts for Christmas. Baking cookies is always delightful and it would be a great edible Christmas gift to make in advance. You can even include this in your homemade Christmas hamper gift!
✏️ Recipe creation
One of the main issues I had with making this gift was finding the correct size of the jar that would perfectly fit a decent-sized batch of vegan cranberry dark chocolate chip cookie mix. I wanted to create a nice gift that wasn’t going to be huge and dwarf your whole Christmas hamper but still pack in enough festive joy that could be enjoyed by the whole family.
After a few test-runs, I decided to use the 490ml / 1 pint / 16oz size of mason jar (like these Ball mason jars or these Britton and James mason jars), it’s perfect for wrapping a little gift tag on with your cookie baking instructions and a little festive message. The cookie mix also fits so snugly into the jar and 8 cookies is a nice amount for a gift I’d say.
Of course, you could always bake the actual vegan cranberry chocolate chip cookies themselves and give them as a gift – they’re one of my favourite easy baked goods to give as gifts! The full recipe from scratch only requires one bowl and roughly 20 minutes of your time. I just love a quick and easy recipe!
🥘 Ingredients notes
When measuring your ingredients, I always recommend using weights rather than cups where possible for greater accuracy. Accuracy is especially important for the amount of flour used in a cookie.
I like to use super tasty dairy-free chocolate chips for this cookie mix gift. My favourite brand at the moment is Callebaut, they’re so rich and smooth!
🔪 Equipment notes
Ensure your mason jar is clean and dry before you add your cookie mix. If not, your mix may spoil before your gift recipient is able to use it. Your cookie mix should last up to a couple of months sealed in the mason jar.
🍱 Storage
You can store your mason jar gift at room temperature for 3-4 weeks, depending on the expiration date of the ingredients used.
It's one of the things that makes these cookie mix jars so great, because you can make a load of them in advance, ready for easy gifting!
💭 Top tips
- If you want super neat layers, ensure you add your mix slowly and even it out using a spoon or other flat bottomed utensil before adding the next layer.
- Between layers, you may need to wipe the inside of the jar to clear off any flour, etc. that may have coated the glass.
- Be sure to pack down your sugar once you’ve added it to the jar. Otherwise, all of your vegan Christmas cookie mix may not fit! It also helps to keep your layer stable and neat.
Troubleshooting
If you’ve got any specific questions on making these mason jar vegan cranberry dark and chocolate chip cookie mix gifts, please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try my best to help out!
Alternatively, you can get in touch via my Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest – I’d love to hear from you!
♻️ Alternatives and substitutions
If you’re not sure if your gift recipient will have the extra ingredients needed to bake the cookies (i.e. vegan butter and vegan milk), you can also gift these in a separate little pot or box.
You don't need to use a mason jar specifically for your Christmas cookie mix gift, you can use any sealable glass jar of roughly the 490ml / 1 pint / 16oz volume. Alternatively, you can scale up or down your mix to fit a different size of jar.
Instead of dried cranberries, you can swap in other dried fruit of your choice such as sultanas and even add in some candied orange peel for extra festive flavour.
Gluten-free option:
If the recipient of your cookie mix gift is on a gluten-free diet, you can swap the plain flour in the recipe for a gluten-free flour blend of the same quantity. I usually recommend a pre-mixed blend such as King Arthur's measure for measure flour or Freee from Doves Farm.
🧁 Other goodies
If you love Christmas and The Holidays, then why not check out my collection of festive recipe ideas? You’ll find some tasty festive brownies like my boozy Baileys Oreo brownies and more great homemade edible gift hamper ideas!
For some more great cookie recipes, why not take a look at my recipe for spiced orange rum brownie cookies.
Or my best ever vegan biscoff stuffed cookies! They're so good, and I can't believe I never knew before that Biscoff is vegan.
If you're after easy no-bake festive desserts, check out this list of the 80+ best no-bake Christmas dessert recipes!
Other Christmas treat ideas:
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📋 Recipe
Mason Jar Gift - Vegan Cranberry Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
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Ingredients
- ½ cups (110 g) light brown soft sugar
- ¾ cups (100 g) plain flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- A pinch of ground cinnamon (optional)
- ⅓ cups (60 g) dairy-free dark chocolate chips
- ½ cups (60 g) dried cranberries
Instructions
- Fill your mason jar with the sugar and use the back of a spoon to press it down into the bottom of the jar. Alternatively, you can choose to split the sugar and flour layers in half and alternate them for a nice pattern.
- Add your baking powder, optional cinnamon, flour (if not already done so), chocolate chips and cranberries in separate layers on top of one another.
- Screw the lid on and add a tag / label / card with the instructions for baking your gift (see notes below).
Notes
- Add a tag, label or card to your gift with the following instructions for making the cookies:
-
- In a bowl, mix 55g / ¼ cups vegan butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon dairy-free milk.
- Pour in the mason jar cookie mix and stir together to form a dough, then divide this into 8 even balls.
- Bake on a lined tray at 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F for 10-12mins and enjoy!
- Your mason jar gift can be made in advance and should last up to a couple of months sealed your jar before use.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on an online nutritional calculator, actual values may vary.
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Brigitte
Does this recipe still work with dairy butter and dairy milk? This looks like a great idea but not all the people I will send to will have the vegan /dairy free alternatives.
Thank you!
Sweet Mouth Joy
Hi Brigitte, I haven't tried it with the dairy versions yet, but in theory it should work the same. I'll add it to my list to test!