Slash the Christmas Budget, Bake Cookies

A good way to save money during Christmas is to slash the budget when giving gifts. Be sure to communicate this well in advance of the big day too. The last thing you want to do is hand your sibling or parent a box of cookies and they give you a BlueRay player in return. Don't feel bad about cutting corners when thinking of gifts. This is about taking responsibility for your financial future.

When giving gifts to coworkers, do they really expect you to buy them something expensive, or will they be happy with a thoughtful tasteful gift. For example, instead of getting everyone in the office a present, merely bake them some festive cookies. In return, you are likely to get your own tin of something in return and your coworkers won't feel obligated to buy something expensive.

Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe 


INGREDIENTS:
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Gradually blend in the sifted ingredients until fully absorbed. Cover dough, and chill for 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. On a clean floured surface, roll out small portions of chilled dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are barely brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

- AllRecipes.com

Cost per Serving
Flour costs about 12 cents per cup. This recipe calls for 45 cents of flour.  There are 6 teaspoons of Baking powder per ounce and 8 ounces will cost about $5.50. So, each teaspoon costs about 11 cents.  The salt costs less than a penny.  The sugar costs 93 cents and the eggs cost 20 cents. 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract will cost 10 cents.  1 cup of margerine can cost about 50 cents.  The total cost of the recipe is about $2.30 and the recipe makes 4 dozen cookies.  The cost per cookie is about 5 cents.

Pumpkin Cookies Recipe With Price Per Serving

Ingredients

2 cups of puree pumpkin
2 cups of flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup oats
1 teaspoon vanilla, all spice, cinnamin
1/4 cup raisins
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg

These pumpkin cookies are easy to make.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the egg, sugar, brown sugar, and oil in one medium bowl.  Mix the dry ingredients in another large bowl.  Put the mixtures together in the large bowl and stir in the pumpkin puree.   Drop the cookies onto a cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 13 minutes.

How much does it cost per serving?

The flour costs about 25 cents. The pumpkin is free. The sugar will cost about 24 cents and the brown sugar costs about 33 cents. The price of the oil is about 33 cents.  Oats cost about 30 cents.  The rest of the ingredients add up to about 50 cents.  The total is about $1.95 for 12 servings.  Each serving costs about 16 cents.

Other Pumpkin Cookie Recipes

Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe With Cost per Serving

When making a batch of cookies, or anything else, I always wonder about the cost per serving.  Here's a simple recipe and below you will find the cost.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 12 oz Chocolate Chips
• Directions
• PREHEAT oven to 375° F.
• Combine the dry ingredients, such as flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs, beating well after each is added. Blend in the dry ingredients gradually.  Then, using a spoon, make small drops of cookie dough on a baking sheet. 
• Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges brown. Use a baking rack to cool for several minutes.
• How much does this recipe cost per serving?
• First, it should make about 3 dozen cookies.  Let's say a serving is three cookies.  Then, we have 12 servings.
• Second, we need to tally the cost of the ingredients.  The store brand flour cost $1.87 for 5 pounds.  We'll round up to $2.  Since there are 3 1/3 cups per pound, this recipe calls for $0.27 worth of flour at this price.  Yes, that's 27 cents. 
• Walmart sells 16 oz of store brand baking soda for 54 cents.  According to an online calculator, there are 6 teaspoons of baking soda per ounce.  So, this teaspoon of baking soda costs half a penny.  We'll round up to 1 penny.
• A well-know store has Morton's salt priced at 93 cents for 26 ounces. This puts the price of a teaspoon at less than 1 penny.  For these purposes, we'll also round up to one penny.
• For margarine or butter, you can usually pick up a package for about $1.21.  So, two sticks should cost you about $0.60.
• Sugar costs about $2.50 for 4 pounds.  There are about 2 cups of sugar per pound.  So, 3/4 of a cup is equal to less than 23 cents worth of sugar.  We'll round up to 24 cents.
• Two pounds of brown sugar can be purchased for $2.00.   There are about 2 1/4 cups of brown sugar in a pound.  This puts the cost at about 33 cents.
• Imitation vanilla flavoring costs about $1.50 for two ounces.  A teaspoon costs about 13 cents.
• One dozen eggs costs about $1.20.  So, two eggs will cost you about 20 cents.
• 12 ounces of name brand chocolate chips go for about $2.50.  This brings the grand total for a batch of 36 cookies to $4.29 and the cost per serving is about 35 cents.