Humble Hermits

I just received a book from my friend Elaine. "The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food" by Judith Jones. I glanced through it and then went directly to the back of the book where there are about 50 or so recipes. So many of the recipes looked good but I have been on a Christmas cookie mission and I couldn't resist trying the Hermits. She calls them "Mrs. Cooney's Hermits" but I love the sound of "Humble Hermits". They aren't fancy but they are absolutely wonderful.

I made these on Tuesday afternoon and they were in the oven at the time that Gavin was getting off the school bus. Ellen & I quickly dashed across the street, met the bus, and then I hustled both of them back to the house as quickly as possible. The aroma that met us was pure Christmas. Gavin said, "Something smells really good!" It's memories like that smell of sugar and spices baking that I remember from when I was a kid.

Humble Hermits

12 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 c. molasses mixed with 2 T. warm water
1 c. raisons
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 beaten egg, for glaze

1. Prepare two baking sheets (or one large one) with parchment paper, silpats, or greased. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together; then beat in the eggs.
3. Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, salt and spices, and add them to the butter-sugar mixture along with the molasses. When well mixed, fold in the raisons and nuts. Divide the batter into 4 parts. Place two mounds on each baking sheet. Shape each mound, with floured hands, into strips about 10x3 inches. You should have two strips of cookie dough on each sheet, not too close to each other.
4. Brush the tops of each cookie "log" with the beaten egg. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on how crisp you want them to be. While still warm, cut each strip into nine bars with a serrated knife.

*I used my large baking sheet and only made two mounds out of the dough. I got about 30 cookies out of the batch.

*These cookies look just like biscotti but they aren't baked twice for the crunchiness of biscotti. They are wonderful for dipping in your coffee or tea and go from being sort of soft to chewy as the time goes by after they are made. I have the remaining hermits in a glass cookie jar and I love to walk by, lift the lid and breathe in that wonderful smell.