Hermits

The holiday season begs for cookies to be made.  Tins packed to over flowing and exchanged between friends.  Colored frosting spattering counters and faces of happy kids.  Recipes swapped between co-workers.  I have one cookie tradition: ginger snaps.  It is time to add a new cookie to the repertoire.  Enter the hermit.

Given the Grinch-like spirit that seems to have descended upon me this holiday spirit, a cookie named hermit seemed appropriate.

Adapted from the recipe in my battle worn BHG Cookbook

yields 36 cookies



The Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup currants
1/2 cup walnuts

The Process:
Preheat the oven to 375. 

Grease a cookie sheet and set it aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat butter until smooth.  Add brown sugar, baking soda and spices.  Beat until combined, occasionally scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula.  Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla.  Add the flour, a little at a time, beating after each addition until well combined.  Stir in currants and walnuts.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the prepared cookie sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart.  Bake in preheated oven for ten minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.  Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.

The review:
The combination of spice fruit and chewiness makes these mounded cookies very reimenscent of traditional oatmeal raisin.  Yet they leave something to be desired.  They aren't overly sweet.  The spice sings of warm Christmas kitchen, yet these cookies failed to inspire much Christmas spirit.  Perhaps hermit is a more fitting name than I originally realized.  Or perhaps these poor spice cookies were over shadowed by the gingersnaps served alongside.

Overall...they are sort of "meh"