Hermits are soft, spicy, cake-like cookies, and they happen to be one of the very few ways I enjoy eating raisins. Maybe it’s all that soaking, or all the butter and brown sugar and spices, or maybe it’s just the memory of my mom baking them when I was a kid. After passing through both her hands and mine, this recipe has changed from the original found in the American Family Cookbook. Just how much I can’t say, because I’ve never seen the original.

Ingredients:
1 cup dark seedless raisins
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the raisins in a small saucepan. Bring back to boiling, then remove from heat. Let sit while you measure out the rest of the ingredients, then drain onto paper towels and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Cream the butter in an electric mixer. Add brown sugar a half cup at a time and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Add dry ingredients in fourths, mixing until blended after each addition. Stir in raisins and walnuts.

Drop by heaping spoonfuls 2 inches apart onto lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 400°F about 7 minutes, or until edges start to brown and tops still appear slightly wet.

Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.