Breads in Jars: Brownies
Submitted by tomhaws
Brownies baked in mason jars with cocoa, buttermilk, and cinnamon. A sealed jar brownie that makes a charming homemade gift, decorated with fabric and ribbon.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
40 minREADY
60 minThese brownies bake right inside mason jars and seal as they cool, creating a shelf-stable treat that doubles as a homemade gift. The jars come out of the oven, get capped immediately, and the cooling process creates a vacuum seal just like canning. Pop the lid open weeks later and the brownie inside is still moist and fresh.
The batter itself is a lighter-style brownie made with cocoa powder, buttermilk, and egg whites instead of whole eggs and melted chocolate. A hint of cinnamon rounds out the cocoa flavor and adds a warmth you wouldn’t expect in a brownie. The buttermilk gives the crumb a slight tang and keeps things tender despite using less fat than a traditional recipe.
Fill each jar just under half full. The batter rises as it bakes, and overfilled jars bubble over and ruin the seal. Three jars is the sweet spot for this amount of batter.
The real fun is decorating the finished jars. Fabric circles, ribbons, dried flowers, pinking shears on the cloth edges. These are bake sale gold and thoughtful holiday gifts that look like they came from a specialty shop.
Pro Tips
- Grease the inside of each jar generously with margarine. Every surface needs coverage or the brownie sticks to the glass and won’t slide out cleanly.
- Wipe the jar rims spotless before capping. Any batter residue on the rim prevents a proper seal.
- Keep the lids in hot water until you’re ready to use them. Hot lids seal faster and more reliably than room temperature ones.
- Handle the jars with oven mitts. They come out extremely hot and the glass holds heat for a long time.
Variations
- Add a handful of mini chocolate chips to the batter for richer chocolate pockets.
- Stir in chopped walnuts or pecans for crunch.
- Replace cinnamon with a pinch of espresso powder to deepen the chocolate flavor.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven at 325℉ (160℃).
Place a baking sheet onto middle rack and remove top rack from oven.
Before starting batter, wash jars, lids, and rings in hot soapy water and let drain, dry, and cool to room temperature.
Generously prepare inside of jars with margarine.
To prepare batter, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.
In another mixing bowl, combine margarine, water, cocoa powder, buttermilk, egg white, and vanilla.
Divide batter among 3 jars (should be slightly less than half full).
Carefully wipe rims clean, then place jars on baking sheet (or they’ll tip over) in the center of oven.
Bake 40 minutes .
Keep lids in hot water until they’re used.
When cakes are done, remove jars which are HOT from oven one at a time.
If rims need cleaning, use moistened paper towel.
Carefully put lids and rings in place, then screw tops on tightly shut.
Place jars on a wire rack; they will seal as they cool.
Once jars are cool, decorate with round pieces of cloth and then glue on flowers, ribbons, etc. on lid, ring and side of jar. Unscrew the ring (the lid should be sealed by now) and place a few cotton balls on top of the lid (makes it poofy on top), then a piece of cloth (about 3 inch larger than the lid) on top and screw the ring back on.
Decorate as desired (example pinking shears).
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