Make cupcakes with a twist! Put a creative spin on Christmas cupcakes - package them in mason jars. It's a sweet, original treat - easy to make and something your loved one will enjoy eating and licking out of the jar. When making the gift jars, you are placing only the dry ingredients in the mason jars. Your recipient will then need to mix the dry ingredients with the remaining wet ingredients - egg, butter, oil, vanilla essence. On the gift package, stipulate the proportions that still need to be placed in the mix or give the original recipe. Place the ingredients in the jars in layers so that each layer is specifically seen - flour, sugar, choc chips etc.

 

Specficially for the red velvet cupcakes, you are not layering the ingredients but rather baking them yourself and then packaging them with icing in the mason jar - it is ready-made gift. Once the red velvet cupcakes are baked and have cooled down, cut them in half and place the bottom half in a small mason jar. Using a knife or piping bag, ice the top half generously (if you don't have a pipping bag you can use the corner of a shopping packet). Push the top part of the cupcake onto the icing so that it oozes out the side (you might need to break it in half in order to fit in the jar). Ice the top of the cupcake and lid the jar.

 

Decorate the top of the jars with fabric (particularly fun prints and bright colours). Bind the fabric to the lid using patterned ribbon. Download our gift tag designs, print them out on cardboard and attach them to the lid using the ribbon. You can also download the labels and have them printed on sticker paper and stick them to the glass.

Done! This is not just a gift for a friend, family member or teacher, its a gift to yourself - the creative process is fun and rewarding. Enjoy it!

With acknowledgement to SPAR Savour Magazine