Cookie Walk is Saturday, December 1st, from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM. We’re asking each parish family for ten pounds of cookies to make this year better than ever. To encourage your contribution, we’re providing recipes that have proven especially popular in the past.
Hermits are a traditional American recipe. They are a particularly flavorsome winter cookie, though, actually, they can be appreciated at any time of the year. They freeze well and taste better if they are aged a bit before eating.
Always a favorite, most old recipes used sour cream in these cookies, although in the Deep South molasses is often the liquid ingredient. All recipes, however, use some spice and always dried fruit—raisins or figs or dates, sometimes dried prunes cut into small pieces—and always nutmeats. Undoubtedly the choice of fruit in the old cookbooks depended upon availability.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1 & 1/2 cups of unsifted all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each of cloves and allspice
1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, hickory nuts, filberts or almonds
1/2 to 1 cup raisins
Directions
Cream the butter, cream in the sugar well, beat in the egg, and stir in the sour cream. Add the sifted dry ingredients, then the nuts and raisins. Stir to lightly mix.
Grease a teaspoon, dip up about a slightly rounded spoon of batter, and push with the back of another greased teaspoon onto a well-oiled cookie sheet or pan. Bake in a pre-heated 350° F oven for 8 to 12 minutes, or until a delicate brown. Loosen from the pan while still hot. Cool on a rack to room temperature and store in airtight containers.
These cookies freeze well and are better in flavor if aged several days before eating.
Here are some photos from Cookie Walks Past—some from as far back as 2002. The cookies have completely taken over the Parish Hall (which was enlarged a couple of years ago), so some displays have moved to the lobby and the hallway.
24 Photos
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