Brownie in a Jar

As Chairwoman of the cutting board, watching over the interests of my stakeholders is one of my main duties. Last night, I met with two very important stakeholders, Cathy and Mandy, two of my dear friends that I have not seen in ages.  

I  met them at work and we quickly became good friends sharing the good and the bad as though we had been friends forever.  As I climbed up the corporate ladder and suffered through deadlines, employee issues, and compliance audits, they were there for me offering support, advice, and a Vodka tonic when needed.   That makes them very important stakeholders of my cutting board and I knew I had to provide them with a mall return on the investment they spent on me and digging me out of my pile of papers

A year ago, I would have taken the easy route and bought a bottle of wine for us to drink together.  But with baby on board and blog I need to write in, wine was not going to cut it, so I decided to make them both a gift.  


Holy Sweet Jesus! Make them a gift?!?!? Really?!?!?! Is this what Suzie Homemakers do?  What have I gotten myself into?!?!?! NOOOO. I will not freak out.  "FEAR DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS DOJO"...Sorry that was a movie.  


What you will need:

• One Quart Smooth Sided Mason Jar - I bought mine at Michaels for $2 bucks. 
• 1 Yard/s of Ribbon (whichever color/s you choose) - Michaels had them at 2 for $5 bucks. 
• 6" X 6" of burlap or any other fabric of choice (optional)  - I chose burlap because I had it...only God knows why I had burlap.  
• Scrapbooking stickers (optional) - The ones I purchased where $.99 cents a sheet.  
• Decorative basket (optional) - I bought a Harvest/Halloween basket at Michaels on sale for $3 bucks.  
• Card stock or index card to write down recipe.
• Scissors
• To make the Jar, you will need:
• 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup unsweetened Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder (or any other if you cant find Ghirardelli)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 bar of Ghirardelli unsweetened 100% baking chocolate 
• 1/4 bar of Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking chocolate
• Instead of the chocolate bars, you can use 1/2 cup of any other type of chocolate tip.  

Instructions:

1.   The instructions call for mixing together flour, baking powder, and salt in the quart jar, packing it firmly and brushing residue off the insides of the jar with a pastry brush.

•  That didn't work.  There was flour EVERYWHERE.  So I decided to mix the ingredients in separate bowl and use a funnel.  Im so smart!  Well, not really... I didn't have a funnel.  So I folded up a smooth sided American Express mailing and that was my funnel. :)    Then they tell you to pack it in.... BUT HOW???? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO PACK IT IN??? Pheww... found a pestle.  The end of the hammer was going to be my next choice.  Anybody have flashbacks of bad contract requirements yet???? 

2.  Add Cocoa, Pack Firmly, and Brush sides

• AHA!!! Now I have my handy American Express funnel and my little pestle.  YOU WONT BRING ME DOWN LOUSY BROWNIE IN A JAR INSTRUCTIONS!!! I AM THE CHAIRWOMAN, DARN IT!  

3.   Add Sugar, Pack and Brush.

• What they fail to tell you on this step is not to freak out if you feel like your jar is almost completely full (I am such an optimist :]).  Its supposed to be that way.  I freaked, thought I had added more sugar than I needed to, and emptied everything to start again.   

Insert imaginary sugar packing picture here... I forgot to take one. :) 

4.  Add chocolate chips and seal.

• I decided to fancy it up and use 1/4 a bar of Ghirardelli unsweetened chocolate and 1/4 bar of semisweet chocolate for this recipe, but you don't have to. I just love overcomplicating my life.  It's ok.  I have accepted it.  

These were my finished jars.  These instructions are for just one jar, but I did two, because of my two stakeholders.  :)

Putting it all together:

1.  The Jars had a UPC code label on the top I could not remove, so I pulled out my burlap and cut a piece to cover the inner metal flap, then I put on the screw-on ring.  

2. I tied a bow around the neck of the jar with both ribbons to add some flare to the bottle. 

3.  I stuck the scrap booking stickers on the bottle, but in hindsight, this make the bottle impossible to wash without removing or damaging the stickers....so it's up to you what you decide. If you wanted to, you could call yourself done at this point, and just stick on an index card with the instructions on the back of the jar.  But not me. Remember, I like to complicate my life.  

4.  I found this pretty harvest/Halloween basket for sale at Michaels.  It was only $3 bucks!  

5.  I then printed, on card stock, the recipe for my stakeholders to follow at home.  It read like this:

From our Kitchen to Yours!

Enjoy!

The McNairs

  Ingredients:

1 jar brownie mix.

1 cup butter melted.

3 eggs.

1 teaspoon vanilla.

Instructions:

·         Preheat oven to 350°F.

·         Prepare a 9x13 inch baking pan by greasing and flouring.

·         Place brownie mix in a bowl and stir to mix.

·         Add butter, eggs and vanilla and mix until well blended.

·         Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

·         Bake 25-30 minutes.

·         Cool completely before cutting.

6.  Put the lotion in the basket.... nevermind  me, that was another movie.  Anyways, put the jar and instruction card in the basket and Voila!!!!!  AREN'T THEY CUTE!!!! IM SO PROUD!!!! 

After lessons learned on the first jar, the second jar only took me about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish.  After all ingredients/materials were bought, I ended spending about $13 per gift and my friends thought they were very cute . 

  Give it a shot and keep it as simple/complicated as you like. You do not need a basket and you do not need all the sticker frills if you do n0t want to. After all, your friends will appreciate you made them a gift and if they do n0t....Fire them all. :)  


If I missed a step or was not clear somewhere along the way, email me and I will put you on my calendar for a briefing.