Actually, I've never made pirogies.
But I do make hermits, and they're damn good. They have been
Officially Endorsed by my boys in Wisconsin, who know good cookies.
Here's the recipe. It's almost but not quite guaranteed to bring
weak men to their knees and make strong men weep. And they go
nicely with brandy or whiskey. I snagged the recipe from the 1963
edition of the McCall's Cookbook.
HERMITS
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup soft butter or margarine (I recommend butter)
2 cups light-brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1/2 cup cold black coffee (I recommend French Roast)
1 3/4 cups seedless raisins
Directions:
- Sift together flour, soda, salt, and spices; set aside.
- In large bowl of electric mixer, at medium speed, cream
butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat
until well combined.
- At low speed, beat in coffee. (Note: This will cause the
mixture to separate some. Don't be alarmed. Just get it
fairly well mixed.) Then beat in dry ingredients, a third at
a time.
- With spoon, stir in raisins until well mixed. Refrigerate
one hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease cookie
sheets.
- Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto cookie
sheets.
- Bake 8-10 minutes, or until hermits are nicely browned.
Remove to wire rack; cool.
And there you go! These are good stuff. Be forewarned that
they don't spread out much when you bake them, they just puff
up a little. They look strange, but they're tasty as hell.
Back to the front!