I heard about this years ago but did not give it much credence. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if the jars would seal properly or if they would truly be safe to eat. Well … I have been corrected in my thinking. Yesterday I was meeting with my team from the Seeds of Faith Ministry at our church. One of my awesome team ladies retired from the County Extension Service after 29 years and said she has used this method for years and it really works. Well … that’s all I needed to hear. We are looking into doing these “bread in a jar” as part of our ministry effort. I tried it last night and they are the easiest things to make! They take little to no time at all to prepare and look absolutely sweet in the mason jar. Here’s the recipe I used to make Gingerbread Bread-in-a-Jar.
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light molasses
5 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2/3 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine egg, sugar, molasses, butter and water; mix well. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, ginger and salt; add molasses mixture. Beat until well mixed.
Pour mixture into greased WIDE MOUTH pint jars, filling 1/2 full of batter. Do NOT put lids on jars for baking. Be careful to keep the rims clean, wiping off any batter that gets on the rims. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, sterilize the lids and rings in boiling water. As soon as cake is done, remove from oven one at a time, wipe rims of jars and put on lid and ring. Jars will seal as cakes cool. Place the jars on the counter and listen for them to “ping” as they seal. If you miss the “ping”, wait until they are completely cool and press on the top of the lid. If it doesn’t move at all, it’s sealed.
Note: This recipe only used three mason jars. But, you could easily double or triple the recipe. You can do this with any bread or cake recipe. Awesome idea for Christmas presents!!!