Gifts in a Jar: Fruit Filled Oat Cookie Bars

Who doesn’t need an easy cookie recipe or quick gift idea this time of year? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Cookie exchanges, parties, potlucks, gifts for teachers, neighbors, friends , etc. etc, etc.

These Cranberry Oat Cookie Bars are your answer whether you bake the cookies or just layer the dry ingredients into a jar for a sweet gift that even the baking phobic folks will appreciate.

I really struggled to come up with a Thanksgiving (or Fall) cookie for our monthly Fill the Cookie Jar post this month. I don’t know if my fellow bloggers had the same dilemma. Be sure to scroll below the recipes to see what they created. Suddenly, the vision of sugar plums danced in my head. Ok, that’s Christmas and I used cranberries, not plums. But you get the picture. A jar mix cookie.

I love jar mixes for gifts, both giving and receiving. They make great hostess gifts and are good for teachers and busy parents and just about anyone else you can think of. Most of them involve dumping the ingredients in the jar in a pot or bowl with a few other ingredients and BAM! simple semi-homemade dinner (like the Lentil Soup Mix) or dessert like this one.

The original recipe called for strawberry pie filling, which you could use if you prefer. Or cherry or apple or peach. But to go along with the Thanksgiving theme I chose cranberry sauce. It made them slightly less sugary than the pie filling would have been – which was great. I made my own from the instructions on the pack of cranberries, making sure to mash the berries as it cooked so there weren’t any big pieces of cranberry.

[Tweet “Cranberry Oat Cookie Bars – simple cookies from a homemade mix in a jar. #cookies #masonjars”]

Cranberry Oat Cookie Bars

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Serves	24
Prep time	5 minutes
Cook time	40 minutes
Total time	45 minutes
Meal type	Dessert, Fruit
Occasion	Thanksgiving
From book	Gifts from a Jar: Cookies, Brownies & Bars

Cranberry Oat Cookie Bars - crispy oatmeal cookie with a tangy sweet layer of cranberry sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 jar Cranberry Oat Cookie Bar Mix
• 2/3 cups butter (softened)
• 2 cups Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce (or 21 ounce jar of fruit pie filling - cherry, strawberry, apple, etc.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine butter and Oat Bar Mix until blended.

Press 2/3 of crumbs onto the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Bake 15 minutes, let cool for 5 minutes.

If using fruit pie filling or canned cranberry sauce, blend briefly in blender until slightly chunky.

Pour cranberry sauce/pie filling over baked crust.

Crumble remaining crumb over the top.

Bake 20-25 minutes. Cut into bars

Cranberry Oat Cookie Bars Mix

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Cranberry Oat Cookie Bars Mix in a Jar - instructions to make an oatmeal berry cookie bar mix in a jar to give as a gift with printable baking instructions.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups uncooked quick oats
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Note

Click here for printable baking instructions to include with the jar mix.

Directions

In a one quart jar layer ingredients in the order given.

Top with fabric and ribbon as desired. Attach a copy of the baking instructions to the jar.

Until next time, happy eating.
~Audrey