Pioneer
Hermit Cookies
Spiced, molasses-dark, and long-keeping
Hermits were the cookie that kept — firm, spiced with molasses and cinnamon, packed with raisins, and sturdy enough to last a week in the cookie tin without going stale. The 1941 IODE Fort Monckton cookbook records this Maritime standard with the matter-of-fact confidence of a recipe every woman already knew by heart.
Source: IODE Fort Monckton Cook Book, Moncton NB, 1941
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp cloves
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup raisins
- ½ cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease baking sheets.
- Cream butter and brown sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, then molasses.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.
- Stir dry ingredients into the butter mixture until just combined. Fold in raisins and walnuts.
- Drop heaped tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
- Bake 10–12 minutes until set at the edges but still slightly soft in the centre. They firm up as they cool.
- Cool on a rack. Store in a tin — they improve after a day.
✦ Kitchen Notes
- From the IODE Fort Monckton Cook Book, Moncton NB, 1941.
- The name likely comes from their long keeping — these cookies could be made in a batch and forgotten in a tin for a week, emerging as good as the day they were baked.