Valentine's 2012

I have my girlfriends, sister, nieces, and mom that I do Valentine's day gifts for and this year I'm into mason jar gifts.  I wanted to show you what I'm doing to give you an idea and start getting those creative juices going.  the first

1. Cookies in a Mason Jar

Bake up your favorite cookie and then in the short and fat mason jars fill up with a couple and they decorate.  Get a white and re fabric and hot glue to the top, and add a bunch of red, pink, and white ribbon, and had a little tag from you.  Here's my example.

So easy and so fun!  I promise your friend will love it.  Another idea if you don't want to back.  Get a pair of V-Day socks, some chapstick, yummy lotion, and some peppermint oil maybe a puma stone and that makes a great gift!  Anything in a mason chair this year is big and you can make it look soo cute!

2.  Cake in a Mason Jar

Make your favorite cake, add a little in once it's cooked, add a little frosting, and then add more cake.  Close it up and add your cute note and ribbons.

My last Valentine's idea is
3. Smores in a Mason jar from a darling little site I cam across 

http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/04/smores-cake-in-a-jar/

S’mores Cake in a Jar

makes 4 16-ounce mason jar cakes

for crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 stick butter

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter and mix in graham crumbs and salt. Mix until moistened. Spray 4 mason jars with non-stick spray and press graham crust into jars. I began by adding a tablespoon to each, and repeating until graham crumbs were gone. They don’t need to look perfect. I pressed the crumbs down firmly with the flat bottom of a clean screwdriver.

for cake: (from peanut butter hot fudge cupcakes)

1 1/8 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons sour cream

for topping:

1 bag of large marshmallows

In a bowl, whisk egg and sugar until smooth and no lumps remain. Add milk, cream, butter and vanilla, and mix until combined. Stir in sour cream. Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Mix until batter is smooth. Using a 1/4 cup measure, add batter to mason jars one scoop at a time. You only want to fill them up about half way, and the batter should work evenly for 4 jars. Again – don’t worry if it is perfect. Place mason jars in a baking dish and add about 1 1/2 cups of water to the bottom. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake is set.

Remove cake from the oven and press large marshmallows down on top, being careful not to burn yourself. There is no set number of marshmallows to use, I pressed down as many as I could, about 4-5 each. Heat the broiler on your oven and watching carefully, brown marshmallows for about 1-2 minutes, or until golden brown. Do not take your eyes off them! Serve immediately.

So there you do everyone!  This Valentine's you decorate that Mason Jar, and add something yummy, and all those girls in your life, and hubby/boy is going to love it too!  Here are so fun ideas.  Happy Valentine's Day!