Muffins in Jars

After making the brownie mixes last year for Christmas presents, I thought I'd try making a muffin mix this year. I have used the same recipe for over 30 years and it has become a family favorite. So I thought I would try modifying the recipe a little and layering all the dry ingredients in a quart jar. 

From the bottom up, the layers were:

1 cup crushed bran flakes
3/4 cup flour
4 tablespoons buttermilk powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
12 muffin paper liners

I also included 1/4 cup of three different add-ins: raisins, pecans, chocolate chips. I wrapped these in plastic wrap and put them inside the muffin liners.

I cut circles from old Christmas cards to decorate the tops of the jars. And included a slip of paper with the instructions:

Add:
1 cup water
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
Mix well.
Bake for 20 min @400º
Makes 12 muffins

The jars were well received and I had some positive feedback. I was disappointed that the buttermilk powder got very hard and lumpy and was difficult to mix. If I do this again, I will leave out the buttermilk powder and just suggest to use real buttermilk. 

Like the brownie jars, the muffin jars were very inexpensive as presents. The quart jars were the most expensive element, costing about $1/jar. The dry ingredients cost about $35. It took me about 4 hours to make all 24 jars, about 10 minutes per jar. So if you do the math, each jar cost about $2.50 to make.

Four boxes of cereal = $6

Six pounds of sugar = $3

Three pounds of brown sugar = $3

Ten pounds of flour = $10

Two cans of buttermilk powder = $10

Baking soda = $1

Salt from my pantry

24 quart jars = $24

Muffin liners from my pantry

Raisins = $2

Chocolate chips = $3