Beaulah's Hermits

Hermits are one of those heritage cookies that never get the credit they deserve. Spiced with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice, these have a warm, deep flavor that gingerbread wishes it had.

What sets this recipe apart is the combination of molasses and brewed coffee in the batter. The coffee doesn’t make them taste like coffee; it darkens the color and intensifies the spice flavor the way it does in a good chocolate cake. The lard-and-butter shortening blend gives them a tender crumb that’s softer than an all-butter cookie.

You get two baking options here: drop them by spoonfuls for puffy, rounded cookies, or spread the batter into a pan and cut bars while still warm. The bar method is faster and gives you chewy edges with soft centers. Either way, that sprinkle of brown sugar on top while they’re hot melts into a thin, crackly glaze.

Don’t over-flour the dough. It should be soft and slightly sticky. Too much flour and you lose that chewy texture that makes hermits worth baking in the first place.

Pro Tips

• Dredge the raisins in flour before folding them in. This keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the batter.
• Use strong brewed coffee, not instant. The deeper the roast, the more it amplifies the spices.
• Pull them from the oven when they still look slightly underdone. They firm up as they cool, and overbaking turns hermits dry and crumbly.
• Store in an airtight container for up to a week. Hermits actually taste better the next day once the spices have mellowed.

Variations

• Cranberry-walnut hermits: Swap raisins for dried cranberries and fold in chopped walnuts.
• Glazed hermits: Skip the brown sugar topping and drizzle with a simple powdered sugar and coffee glaze after cooling.