I found a new cookie recipe!
I had too much brown sugar on hand, so I was looking for something to take to a potluck that called for brown sugar. That’s when I found the old-fashioned recipe for Hermits, a cookie I remember my grandmother talking about and one I’ve always wanted to try.
The recipe in one cookbook sealed the deal. The surprise ingredient was coffee. My husband thought that was a great idea. Coffee makes everything taste better, right?
If you don’t know whether the people who eat your cookies like coffee, no worries. If you don’t tell anyone about the surprise ingredient, they probably won’t notice. And it makes me feel better because I don’t have to pour that final ¼ cup of cold coffee down the kitchen sink. It gives me an excuse to make more cookies!
I hope you’ll try these soft homestyle cookies. And if you aren’t a coffee drinker or never have the problem of leftover coffee, do a Google search for a recipe for Hermits. I noticed there are other recipes that do not call for coffee. (Wouldn’t it be fun to do a taste test: one recipe WITH coffee and one WITHOUT?)
Full disclosure: my recipe comes from a Gold Medal Flour cookbook from the 1980’s. I’d give you the copyright date, but I’ve used this cookbook so much, the cover is long gone.
Hermits
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup cold coffee
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups raisins
- 3/4 cups chopped walnuts or raisins
Instructions
- Mix brown sugar, butter, shorteningin a large bowl till creamy. Add coffee an egg; mix till smooth. Stir togetherdry ingredients in a separate bowl; add to butter mixture.
- Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degreed about 8-10 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched. Cool on cookie sheet about 2 minutes then remove from pan.
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