Hermit Cookies

Notes

If you are planning to put these cookies into a cookie jar or some such container, you should let them cool for a couple or a few hours or so or they will stick to each other.

Ingredients

½ cup soft (not melted) butter or margarine
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup oats
¾ cup all purpose flour
¾ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Chopped nuts and raisins
Milk

Process

For most baking projects I mix the wet and dry ingredients separately and then mix the two together. Cream the butter or margarine with the egg and vanilla in a large bowl, first with a wooden spoon and then with a whisk. It won’t mix completely, but that’s ok, it will mix when you put in the dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix the oats, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt with the whisk or a sifter. Add the dry ingredients to the butter / egg mixture and stir it with a wooden spoon. You won’t be able to mix it completely so it’s time for the milk. But you have to be careful as too much milk and you’ve ruined your dough. You have to add just a little bit at a time until you get a dough that can be stirred. It’s like cooking a steak – you can’t make a rare steak from a well-done steak. You have to go slowly and giving you an exact measurement won’t help. When you have added enough milk that you can stir the dough, add the nuts and raisins and stir some more. Using two teaspoons, drop 12 small spoonful’s of dough on each of two ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes. Bake them on different levels because if you only use one level the bottoms will burn. After 5 minutes, spin the sheets around and switch the levels of the rack so they cook evenly. You will know they are done when they are a golden-brown colour and if you touch them they do not leave an impression in the cookie. Use a spatula to remove the cookies from the sheet and place them on a wire rack to cool.

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