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Just about any recipe for oatmeal cookies, brownies, etc., can translate nicely to a mix. I do this all the time with great results. I have translated some of my personal recipes to mixes as well as some published favorites.

If you would like a brownie mix - you can find a recipe for brownies using cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate and combine all the dry ingredients. Include a recipe card with the fresh ingredients and the baking instructions.

You can tell your intended giftee that if the mix isn't used within a month to put it (still in its bag) into a plastic container and in the freezer where it will keep another 4-6 months.

I always have a container of my pancake mix stored in a container in the fridge. My grandchildren love my pancakes. When they're ready to be cooked, I put in lwhatever add-ins I have on hand, such as grated apple, cottage cheese, chocolate chips, vanilla sour cream. And of course always add the liquid ingrediants (milk, water, juice, etc.) eggs and oil. The mix itself contains, besides the usual flour, baking powder, a little sugar, salt, a good measure of powdered milk and sometimes more healthful ingredients such as wheat germ, part whole wheat flour, a little cornmeal.

donnie - would you mind sharing your marshmallow recipe?

Another thing that looks pretty in jars is bean soup. I made a whole bunch of these a few years back, and they were a big hit. I bought bags of different beans, lentils, etc and layered them in the jars. Seems that I also included spices that I put in a baggie on the very top.

The key, I think, is to make sure everything you're including can be dumped together and mixed or cooked, or that you have it separated so that individual ingredients stay separated. I've seen bean soups in jars where macaroni is one of the included ingredients, and that just doesn't make sense, since it takes a lot longer to cook the beans than to cook the noodles.

You can also gift frozen cookie dough.I got this on Martha's website. I make a dough that freezes well (chocolate, ginger-spice or something like pistachio-dried cherry work well) then roll them in a log, wrap them really well in plastic then freeze. When it's time to give them, I gift wrap in brown parchment, tie the ends with ribbon and write the name of the cookie on the outside and include a card with slice and bake instructions. They have been an unbelievably popular gift for 4 years now AND they can be done in advance! Just a thought...

There's a book called "The Perfect Mix" by Diane Phillips that has
"90 gift-giving ideas for bread, soup, dessert and other homemade mixes."
Check to see if your library has it. Lots of great ideas.

I tend to put together baking mixes for friends who like treats but seldom venture into the kitchen themselves. So recipes that ask you to "cream butter and sugar" are out -- too scary. Instead, I hunt for recipes that ask you to just add melted butter and an egg before mixing. Farmgirl's crazy cookies, Baking Bites' oatmeal raisin cookie bar, and Cook's Illustrated New Better Recipe's chocolate chip cookie all specify using melted butter =)