Whole Hog With the Jars

Note the title of my blog. Procrastination Station. So it's fitting that I'm posting one final Christmas project today, on January 9th. I'll repeat what ya'll have heard a few times on this blog--the idea can be adapted for any occassion. Which is true. No reason why you can't do this for another holiday or even a "just because" gift. It's definitely something I'm adding to my list of quick and clever tricks.

My girlfriend Abby and I cooked up a scheme to make some of our Christmas gifts together. The theme was "mixes in a jar". I figured I had the cute stamps, might as well go for it.

We each did 12 sets of Butterscotch Blondies/Friendship Soup to give out. It was like giving people a whole dinner that they could make at their own convenience. And, I liked the fact it wasn't something sweet that was already baked. The holidays are gluttonous with the baked goods. I didn't want to contribute, or worse, have something I put a lot of effort into end up in the trash.  This seemed like the solution.

The Friendship Soup was EXCELLENT. I've made it myself twice. And I'm going to make myself up some jars to have on hand. Very handy. One of my recipients used Campbell's Roasted Red Pepper Soup as the base instead of water and had good results.

The Blondies are delicious as well, but hard to get all the ingredients in the jar. Those babies are jam packed. Took a bit of muscle. I say make up the brownies for yourself, forget the jar.

Cards with directions were tied to the jars. Friendship Jar, Fall Friendship Jar (for the label stamp), and Holiday Friendship Jar were used as well at the little jar label die and Pure Poppy Baker's Twine. I find when you have multiples of the same project to complete, it's best to keep things simple.

Cut fabric squares decorate the top. Very homey.

I ended up adding to my gift bags with homemade hot chocolate and homemade peppermint marshmallows. OMG. The marshmallows. I cannot tell you how delicious they are. Now permanently on my holiday traditions list. If you have a Kitchen Aide mixer, a real snap to make. Who'd have thought?

OK. That's Christmas from me. Glad to put it to rest. Looking forward to spring.