Time’s Up! The winner of the Desserts in Jars Giveaway is:
#558 dixie: oatmeal chocolate chip cookies w/ walnuts :) my FAVE!!
Congrats Dixie! I’ve sent you an email! :)
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I have a sweet giveaway to share today. :) Hands down, one of my favorite weekends ever was when my friend Shaina came and stayed at my house while she was writing her delicious book Desserts in Jars. We spent two days baking, photographing, and totally indulging in 11 ridiculously fabulous desserts that went straight into this fun book. Shaina’s book not only includes a multitude of decadent desserts made and displayed in jars, but she also has many ideas and recipes for jar mixes made for gifting. Cookie mixes, like this Monster Cookie Mix pictured above, are the perfect gift for any occasion, but they’re especially fun at Christmas! If you’re looking for a unique stocking stuffer or special gift for someone who’s hard to buy for, check out all the fun jar mixes in Shaina’s book. You can now conveniently find Deserts in Jars at Target! The Espresso Brownies, White Chocolate Spice Cookies, or the Spiced Hot Chocolate with Cinnamon Marshmallows Mix are sure to wow! The cookie mix alone would be perfect for a stocking stuffer, or for a great gift tuck this cookie mix in a basket with a baking sheet (or a muffin top pan), a fun decorative spatula, (Target has the cutest Christmas spatulas right now!) a cookie scoop, and some decorative teaspoons along with a copy of Desserts in Jars. Perfect! And they obviously travel well if you need to ship any gifts this year. Shaina shipped me this cookie mix above and as you can see, it looks flawless!
Shaina even has free printable gift tags with instructions for topping your cookie mix jars on her Desserts in Jars site. So convenient!
Ya’ll know as soon as I pulled the gorgeous jar out of the box I had to make these cookies immediately! :) Just whip up a little peanut butter, butter, eggs and vanilla…
Then take your fabulous cookie mix…
And dump it right in.
You can bake on any standard cookie sheet, but I wanted to make these in a muffin top pan today.
I love how HUGE they turn out in a muffin top pan! Look at that gorgeous deep-dish crust! These Monster Cookies definitely live up to their name. :)
Peanut Butter and M&Ms… These are the cookies Santa wants on his plate! :)
Monster Cookies In a Jar Mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup M&Ms or chocolate chips
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or broken pretzel pieces
1. Whisk together the sugar, baking soda, and salt and pour into the bottom of a 1-quart Mason jar.
2. Top with the oats, M&M’s, brown sugar, and chopped walnuts or pretzels. Seal with lid and attach a label with the following instructions for the recipient:
To Make Monster Cookies
3/4 cup peanut butter (not natural)
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl until well combined. Add the contents of this jar and stir until just combined. Form the dough into 2-inch balls and set on cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the top sof the cookies begin to brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Recipe adapted from Desserts in Jars.
Desserts in Jars Giveaway!
I’m so excited to share a fun gift basket of sweets and treats with one lucky Kevin & Amanda reader, celebrating Desserts in Jars. Here’s what all you’ll get!
- 1 Monster Cookie Mix (made by Shaina herself!)
- 1 personalized, autographed copy of Desserts in Jars
- 1 $25 Target gift card
- 1 Key to My Heart Jar Necklace
How CUTE is that necklace?? I love it!! :)
How to Enter
To enter the Desserts in Jars giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. What’s your favorite dessert?? :)
Contest ends Saturday, December 15 at 8 am CST. One entry per person, please. Winner will be chosen at random and notified by email.
If you’re on Facebook, come check us out here! :)
Stay sweet… and good luck!!! :)









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I am a brownie girl with all the fixin’s!
Peanut butter cookies. But, I love almost all cookies.
My favorite dessert is usually something with lemon; lemon bars, lemon meringue pie or lemon-topped pastries. Yum!
Shortbread. The recipe is handed down from my grandmother. Makes me think of her whenever I make it.
I love cheesecake, especially a white chocolate, chocolate chip cheesecake. Yummy!
Chocolate sheet cake (My Granny’s recipe) I but it makes a big mess and the icing is a bit time consuming, so I don’t get it often. I made some homemade lemon bars this weekend that have definitely found a spot in my top dessert lineup! I also love brownies and also sopapilla cheesecake. YUMM! (Ok, so any dessert really!)
Chocolate chip pound cake, sooo good!
I love any kind of brownies.
Cake, cake, cake…
CAKE!!! Truly I love any kind of cake, but my fave is white cake with choc ganache. Thanks for the fun giveaway, Amanda!
white cake with white frosting
I love apple cake, soooooooo good!
Macarons! Or anything dipped in chocolate.
A moist chocolate cake with lots of icing.
razzleberry pie!!
Brownies are my absolute favorite!!!!
Molten lava cakes are my favorite dessert ever! Thanks for the chance to win. XO
I love Texas Sheet Cake! Cute giveaway and gift idea.
My Mom’s brownies with frosting!
I love English triffle…made with lemon curd!! YUM!!
Creme Brulee!
I love cookies! My favorite are peanut butter with M & M’s!
Apple pie gets me smiling every time :)
Lovely photos and post! I love Chocolate Chip Cookies and French Silk Pie…. yum!
Ice cream with tons of mix-ins! Mmm!
Banana Split is my favorite!
I love pecan pie or creme brule… YUMO
Almond Joy Chocolate Cake
Coca-cola cake
So many, but if I have to choose one, cheesecake. Funny story, last six weeks of first pregnancy, had to go to the doctor every week. My mother-in-law would go with me and then we’d go to lunch at a local cafeteria. I would get cheesecake every, every week. My son is now 34 and still hates cheesecake. Hummmm! Wonder why?
it’s a toss up between key lime pie (more tangy than sweet) and chess pie
My daughter’s loaded brownies.
Thanks!
I love anything super chocolatey!
Anything chocolate…dark is the best!
7 layer bars. Yummy.
my favorite dessert is brownies! thank you for sharing this giveaway– the book looks so fun!
if it’s dessert, I’m not too picky :) brownies, cookies, cakes, ice cream…
A brownie topped with french vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries in syrup and whipped creme
i lovvveee yellow cake with fudge icing or ice cream cake!
I love anything with chocolate and peanut butter!
Anything with chocolate, especially Cheesecake Factory’s chocolate cake!
Chocolate sheet cake!!!
Or anything with chocolate + peanut butter
ice cream
…sorry, I can’t pick just one!
I love cookies! All kinds of cookies.
My favorite dessert is probably a buttermilk chess pie. Good thing not many places have that on their dessert menu!
My new favorite dessert is my first attempt at a yule log Saturday! I cut it in half, dug a trench and loaded it with homemade peanut butter buttercream, reassembled and poured ganache all over the top. YUM!!!
My favorite dessert is cookies. I’m excited to try out this recipe!!
Cherry Pie! (In a jar?!?)
Cheesecake! YUM!
My personal favorite are the mexican wedding cookies, soft, sweet with just a hint of nuttiness :-)..but these are wonderful surpirses! keeping my fingers crossed xoxox
My favorite dessert is strawberry cheesecake.
Homemade, fresh, warm, chocolate chip cookies!
Chocolate cupcakes!
When I have the time to make them, I love apple dumplings :)
I am not much of one that is for sweets but when I do want sweets, I love love cheesecake. Maybe it’s the cream cheese as I do love cheese a lot :)
I love Tiramisu with a nice cup of coffee!
Ice Cream. Always ice cream :)
I love brownies and ice cream!
One of my favorites would be a good ole chocolate chip cookie :) can’t go wrong there!
Chocolate cake!!
Chocolate cake!
if it has chocolate and peanut butter, i am in!!!! especially buck eye bars!!!!!
Do I really have to pick? Pretty much anything chocolate wins over my heart but chocolate + cheesecake? oh yeah!
Two-layer fudgy chocolate cake.
Chocolate chip ice cream!
I don’t discriminate when it comes to desserts…I like ‘em all.
Every dessert!
Well, I’d rather have a second helping of dinner than dessert. But if I AM going to eat something sweet, it needs to be really, really gooey, preferably involve sweetened condensed milk and/or cake mix, and no-chocolate-please.
Thanks for the opportunity!
even though it’s SO simple, i’d say blonde brownies. although around this time of the year, pumpkin pie is my favorite too. i could never decide on my absolute favorite!
I’m going to have to choose cheesecake, any kind of cheesecake, as my favorite dessert.
my son made pumpkin bread the other night that was amazing so that’s my new favorite
My fav’ cookie is making gingerbread men/cookies. they take a long time to cut out and bake but it is all worth it. I have made these jars and attached a cookie cutter man on the side as well. Enjoying your blog today!
My favorite dessert is cheesecake!!!!!
Gooey chocolate chip cookies with a glass of iced tea or anything dessert that my boyfriend and I make together. (And that necklace is adorable!) :)
My favorite dessert is Yule log. All that chocolatey goodness! yummmm
Oddly enough, my favorite dessert is Monster cookies!! I love them, could eat them night and day! So excited about this giveaway!!
Any cookie with peanut butter or oatmeal!
Well there is hardly a dessert I don’t like but I love snickerdoodles.
Warm chocolate chip cookies!
I have so many favorites! If I had to choose just one though, Strawberry Shortcake (with homemade cake and homemade whip cream!).
I have a major sweet tooth and I love pretty much all sweets. But when it comes down to it, an ooey gooey warm chocolate chip cookie will always be my favorite <3
I’m not picky when it comes to desserts…I love it all! My favorite is fresh chocolate chip cookies.
napolean!
I am on a lemon kick right now, so Lemon Cream Cake!
Chocolate lava cake!!! YUM!
Anything with Peanut Butter and Chocolate!! Brownies, Cookies, Cake! Yummy
Warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies!
Blondies with M&Ms! SOO good!
Chocolate addict here! SO I a huge brownie fanatic – but it’s even better with filled with pecans and walnuts :)
I think my favorite dessert is a toss-up between cookies and cheesecake. especially if red velvet is involved in either. :)
My favorite dessert is my mother’s homemade Trifle!
I have two favorite desserts year round – vanilla ice cream and fresh baked cookies! But around the holidays I get my holiday favorite – peanut butter balls!
Just about any kind of ice cream!
Definitely creme brulee!
My favorite dessert is cheesecake!
I am a cookie girl, and a soft cookie one at that! Love chewy and moist cookies- Molasses cookies are my favorite!!
My mom’s Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake!
My favorite dessert…anything chocolate! I might have to go with Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake. Fabulous!
Texas Sheet Cake hands down!
My favorite dessert by far is homemade chocolate cheesecake. Yummy!
Humingbird Cake (a cinnamon, pineapple, banana, pecan cake) with Cream Cheese Frosting. YUM!!!
Ohhh….I have so many favorites, but it think one of my favorites would be Death By Chocolate! It’s a trifle made with brownies, choc moose, cool whip, Heath bars, Ameretto….yummmm!