Cookie in a Jar: Being a mother is organizing entertainment

When I was young, my mom's form of entertaining my brothers and me came in a library bag.  Once or twice a week we'd head to the library, fill a bag and come home. That was pretty much it.  She fed my brothers and me, made sure we were clean, folded our clothes, helped us with our homework, but in terms of "playing with us" or "entertaining us," there wasn't much of that.  My brothers and I spent most of our days entertaining each other, or figuring out ways to aggravate each other.  Either way, neither scenario really involved my mom.  If we were bored, we figured out what to do (usually read, or make a fort, or find legos, or create dramatic scenes with our legos) but we never said, "We're bored mom!" otherwise she'd turn it into something like wiping the sinks. If friends came over, we shut ourselves into our room and created scenes from Little House on the Prairie or found engaging story lines from Barbie to play out.

Fast forward to my current life as a mom, and I find that my children look to me a LOT for entertainment.  If friends come over, the kids ask me what they should do?  I look at them like they're crazy.  "Find something in your room" or "Find something to play together" doesn't seem to work.  They are looking for the next activity or task for me to give them.  One of my friends dryly noted, "In our days, the goal was to AVOID our parents, so that we could do MORE not less." And I agree.  It was far more about what we could do without them and far less about what we would do with them.

But when my girls wanted to have a swim friends get together, they asked if they could have a baking activity party.  I looked at them and said, "As long as I'm not running it, I'm okay," and they both nodded their heads vigorously and said that they'd take care of anything as long as I provided the supplies.  I decided to let them have their way, and offered some strategic ideas of how to plan time so that they'd have enough things to do with their friends.  (The teacher in me does not die easily.)

This was one of my suggestions for my daughters to do with their friends.  I came up with the recipe, showed them how to do it once, and then tested out the cookie and the execution once you dumped the contents of the jar.  The end result was something so yummy and good that this morning I dumped out two of their pre-made jars and made 6 dozen cookies for my church.

Yesterday, with a few girls, my daughters had their cooking activity party and all I did was sit on the sofa as they ran around the kitchen.  Since there were no stoves and ovens used, I wasn't required to do anything except post on Instagram and drink my coffee.  I do think it was a great independent activity, and one that I'd have my daughters do again in the near future.

These cookies are special with the brown sugar really pushing texture and flavor and the mix-ins customizable according to what you wish to highlight.  I think a white chocolate cranberry one would be great as well, and one of the girls went home with that version.

My daughters made the labels using washi tape and brown kraft paper tags .  They created their own cookie names (do NOT ask me about these Image of Perfection cookie, a name #1 Daughter came up with, which is some sort of crazy inside joke.) Some sort of tag is required in order to leave directions to your recipient how to make the cookies.  (Add one stick [1/2 cup] melted butter, one egg, mix, and form into cookies and bake at 375.)  Straightforward stuff.

The quart sized, wide mouth mason jars are easily found at your local Bed Bath Beyond or Target.  I found the Amazon ones totally outrageously priced.  They should run you about $1.50 for one, or if you have your Bed Bath Beyond 20% off coupon, you can get them cheaper.  Michaels also carries them.

Cookie Mix in a Jar

Makes 1 jar of mix which yields 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup packed light brown sugar

1 ¼ cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup oats

1 cup choice of mix ins - chocolate chips, cranberries, m and m’s, nuts (you can mix as you please)

Method

Write instructions on a tag, or a card, so the recipient knows how to make them.

Mix ingredients in jar with a fork.

Add ½ cup (1 stick) melted butter and 1 egg.

Mix and scoop onto cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes

Printable recipe

My favorite just has chocolate chips.

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