c is for COOKIE. That's good enough for me, too.

I made what I intended to be a lovely engagement present. Except now I want to keep it and never give it away.

This entire present was inspired by these cookies:

Sorry, did you miss that? Want to see them again?

I have more close-ups. But I'll stop there. Just know that these cookies are THE BEST PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES YOU WILL EVER EAT IN YOUR LIFE EVER. EVER. Seriously. Took them to Sunday dinner and my brother walked into the room eating one - which was a shocker because he is ADAMANTLY opposed to peanut butter in ANYTHING except a PB&J sandwich - and said, "I don't like peanut butter cookies at all. But THESE? THESE are AMAZING." And I passed out and my sister IL yelled at him to stop eating her cookies and I came home with no cookies left. The end.

So. Because this gift really does center around these amazing cookies, I am going to give you the recipe first. First, enlist the kids. Free labor.

You know they're delicious when bug smiles without prompting.

Here's the deal. I pinned the recipe from Joyful Momma's Kitchen. I've made them three times or so, and do things SLIGHTLY differently. Like, I don't always melt the chocolate over the top. And I usually make them in normal muffin tins, not mini muffin tins. Also, the original recipe is not enough for my family, so I've turned it into a big batch. Here's the printable recipe card:

Seriously guys, make them, even if you don't give them to anyone but yourself. You'll understand why I'm raving.

BUT. Let's make them into an awesome gift shall we? And it's easy too! Feel free to first print out that recipe card to add to your cookie gift.

NEXT.

Now, let me just quickly explain... I really wanted to try some glass etching for a cookie jar gift. And I really wanted that cookie quote. And once I thought about it, and realized anew that I don't have a cricut or silhouette or die cutter of any kind, it became clear how insane that idea was. Can you imagine cutting out all those tiny letters by hand to make the stencil for the glass etching?? Not gonna happen. That's the main reason freezer paper stenciling happens so rarely around here... SO. On to something a little easier. I decided to make a TEMPLATE on my computer and trace around it onto the glass. So much less time consuming. Plus, I hear if you bake sharpies on ceramic it's permanent so I decided to give that a little twist and try it out on clear glass.

Obviously, you don't need to use my template. You can use any quote, monogram, last name, picture, whatever. But, if you want to print mine out and use it, feel free.

So. You've gathered your supplies. It's time to make it.

1. Print your template onto cardstock so it's sturdy. Trim your template down so it will fit easily inside your cookie jar, snug against the glass.
2. Place the template in your cookie jar, following the curve of the glass. Make sure it is right up on the glass and that it is straight.
3. Use tape to secure the template where you want it. You'll need to tape it in a few different spots - top, bottom, sides... I know. You can totally see the tape in this picture, can't you?
4. Pick your sharpie color and trace around your template.
5. You can leave it as an outline, color it in, or add pattern inside the letters. I decided to do hash marks all inside the letters.
6. This is just to let you see the tracing a bit better. If you look down from the top at all or from an angle, you'll definitely see the shadow effect... make sure when you trace you do it straight on so you can make sure to see the template.
7. Take the paper out. This is what it looks like. Not bad!

I happen to really like the hand sketchiness of the hash lines.

Now you bake it.

I put my oven on 200 and baked it for about 30 minutes. It came out looking... well, exactly the same. Which is good. I rubbed at it. I scrubbed at it. It stayed on there! Woo-hoo!

Now just take your amazing cookies and:

Admittedly, the light colors I used to trace the quote don't show through very well when the cookie jar is full. I might recommend using darker colors or giving your letters a black outline.

But, really, when all is said and done, who cares that the letters are light when you have an entire jar of this to enjoy:

That's what I thought.

Picture this with the recipe card and a little tag attached with twine. So cute. I think it would be perfect for a housewarming or even engagement or wedding gift.

And if you have no idea where that quote comes from, well, you should be ashamed of yourself. What's wrong with you? It's only one of the BEST songs from the BEST TV show of all time. Allow me to enlighten you: