JCK88

Awesome collection of mix recipes! I'm going to work on adapting some of them to wheat-free, dairy-free, corn-free so if anyone else here has allergies, I'll post them later on. I printed these for my binder! Thanks so much.

OK...here is BASIC CAKE IN A JAR with the Chocolate-Almond Variation (and other variations, too just for fun)

For this, you use wide-mouth pint jars. You grease the bottoms and sides of the jars well with butter. Don't use oil or sprays.

When baking, you use one cup of batter in each jar. Don't use more! And be sure to wipe the jar rims carefully or the batter bakes on and they won't seal.

You place the jars on a baking sheet to put in the oven. Jars should not touch. They are baked at 325 for 55 to 60 minutes. Test doneness with a wooden toothpick or skewer.

You put the seals on the jars as soon they are removed from the oven. Screw them on firmly then let cool. They should seal. If not, refrigerate the cake or have it for dessert that evening! And they last two months according to the book, but we had some on the shelf longer and they were still moist and delicious after 6 months. (one that was hidden remained sealed 8 months but was slightly dry. We ate it anyway with ice cream, shameless people that we are)

RECIPE

2 -2/3 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

2 tsp vanilla

3-1/2 cups flour

1- 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and mix well. Add water and canilla. Add dry ingredients. Pur 1 cup batter in each pint jar. Bake at 325 F for 55 to 60 minutes.

For Chocolate Almond version omit water and vanilla. Add

1/2 cup almond flavored liquuer (amaretto)

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup almonds (slivered or chopped)

Mix and bake according to above directions

For Rum Raisin variation

omit water, add 1/2 cup dark rum and 1 cup raisins, bake as directed

For Banana Nut Cake Variation (don't omit water for this one)

add 2 cups mashed bananas

1 tsp cinnamon

2/3 cup chopped pecans.

Bake according to directions.

Or, you can just add 1 cup mini M&Ms and call it polka dot cake!

For Orange or Lemon Poppy Seed Variation:

Omit water and add

1 cup white chocolate chips or pieces

1/4 cup poppy seeds

1Tablespoon of either grated lemon or orange rind

1/2 cup of either lemon or orange juice

Mix and bake according to directions.

These recipes are from the Book "Jazzy Jars" by Marie Browning....a entire book about decorating canning jars and filling them for home made gifts. (I love these recipes for gifts and have made every single one and can say they are all good but that chocolate almond one is THE BEST)

As my daddy always wrote at the end of a recipe he shared...Bon Appetite!

Another home made gift idea---jewelry. I like to make silver-plated wire wrapped glass bead jewelry. (try to say that fast-!Ha)

Just made a pretty blue bracelet for a neighbor's birthday. She really liked it. Most expensive part is the wire, but you don't use a ton of it per project so it goes far. A good place to get it is Fire Mountain Beads online but I got mine on sale at a craft fair. Beads can be found cheaply at Wal Mart or craft stores. Only tools needed are needle nose pliers and your imagination.

Another gift idea is a garden stepping stone. You can use anything for mosaics--broken dishes smashed into bits work great. I got a group at the nursing home where my mom lives to do stones with things like shells, glass globs and glass squiggly things from the dollar store. Mom has a little garden outside her window and she was happy to put her stone there where she could see it.

A great home made gift received by my daughter from a beloved aunt is a little kit of home made name stamps nestled nicely in a small board box that could be decorated with the stamps. The stamps were carved on high quality rubber erasers. Daughter loved them. A couple of small ink pads accompanied this gift.

One of our favorite gifts to give is cakes in a jar. Our favorite is an almond chocolate that is moist and has amaretto in it. We gave these as teacher gifts one year and were met with great enthusiasm on parents' night!If anyone wants, I'll post the recipe later on. (have to dig it out) This cake can last on the shelf for six months--so also might be fun for storage.