SPECKLED HERMITS

I have made so many of the recipes in Yolanda's All New Cranberry Cookbook that I discovered in a gift shop on Cape Cod when we vacationed there with our dear friends Janice and Leon several years ago. At the time I didn't want to buy the cookbook but there was a recipe I wanted to make. I copied it down but after we got back to Kansas City, I looked it up online and ordered it. The author Yolanda Yodi even autographed it for me. 

I needed something to make for the Cafe Treats last Sunday and after searching forever for something picked up Yolanda's little cookbook and picked out this recipe to make these Speckled Hermits. After I made them, I thought I would do a search for Hermits and discovered they are a New England recipe that was probably brought over from Europe by early settlers. 

They were really delicious and I had many compliments on them the brief time I was behind the counter in the Cafe offering the Cafe Treats to the people. Wayne really liked them too which is always good.

The extra for me was I could advertise them as egg-free for the few who require egg-free treats. I told them that they would be dairy-free also if only they didn't include the half of cup of skim milk. They were really surprised when I told them they contained olive oil.

 

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SPECKLED HERMITS

3     cups flour

1     cup sugar

1     teaspoon baking soda

1     teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2  teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2  teaspoon salt

1/2  cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2  cup skim milk

1/2  cup molasses

3/4  cup sweetened dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Add olive oil, milk, and molasses.

(Use a large measuring cup for easy measuring of these three items since they are all 1/2 cup measure and they will measure 1-1/2 cups when you are finished pouring them in the cup. They will also empty out of the cup nicely too.)

Mix with a spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened and batter comes together.

Fold in the dried cranberries.

(I chopped my cranberries so that I would have a good coverage of them in the pan.)

Spoon dollops of the thick batter around the pan

leaving a little bit in the bowl.

Using a spatula spread/press the dough out evenly

to cover the bottom of the pan.

Add the small amount you left in the bowl in the places where the batter is thinner and into the corners of the pan.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack in the pan before cutting.

I cut 40 bars. Just in case you don't know...to get nice clean cuts, cut bars and brownies with a plastic knife.

GLUTEN-FREE LEMON COOKIES

 Saturday afternoon found me as I am so often on Saturdays trying to find something I could take to church on Sunday for the Cafe Treats that would be either sugar-free and or gluten-free. I made some raisin bars using the gluten-free baking mix that I bought at Aldi that I really loved, but someone else was bringing sugar-free oatmeal raisin cookies (that I will be sharing later this week). I try to have as much of a variety as I can with the Cafe Treats on a Sunday. Nothing was clicking with me as I searched my recipes, my cookbooks, and even on-line.

I decided to see what I had in the pantry to snack on and saw a gluten-free yellow cake mix that I had also bought from Aldi that I had forgotten I had. That started me thinking of some of the quick cookies I make from a sugar-free cake mix, but I wanted to see if I could find something new. Of course I have no cookbooks for gluten-free recipes, so that left the internet.

I found a few but settled on a recipe for lemon cookies using a gluten-free yellow cake mix that caught my eye. I love just about anything that is lemon flavored. I had read one blog post using a G-F yellow cake mix that said the mixture was fairly crumbly but you could press to form a cookie ball so I wasn't totally surprised when my mixture was really dry. I just changed the recipe a little. 

I liked that my recipe was not just gluten-free, but also egg-free and dairy-free. Unfortunately gluten-free mix products usually contain much sugar so you can't have a sugar-free treat, too.

Even though we can have gluten, I'm sure I will make these Lemon Cookies again, because Wayne and I both really enjoyed the cookie. I did sprinkle some additional powdered sugar on the cookies when I sat them out for the Cafe Treats.

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G-F, E-F, & D-F LEMON COOKIES

1          (15 oz) box Gluten-free yellow cake mix

1/4 + 2 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh squeezed or concentrate in a bottle)

1-2       tablespoons lemon zest or dried lemon peel

1/3       cup oil

1          cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Empty the cake mix in a large bowl and add the juice, zest or peel, and oil.

Stir with a spoon until all of the cake mix has been moistened by the oil or juice. (If you need to add a little bit more juice, do so a little at a time. You are not trying to make the mixture your traditional cookie dough. You just want no dry cake mix left.

Mixture will be crumbly.)

Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out a level scoop of the mixture.

Release in your palm and

then press with your fingers to make a ball.

Drop the ball in the powdered sugar that is in a small bowl and roll to coat.

Place the coated balls 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookies were set. (14 minutes worked great for me. The cookie was not brown but the bottom was.)

Allow to cool for a minute or two before removing the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

I made 26 yummy cookies. After I took this picture I remembered that I had brought some extra powdered sugar to shake over the cookies. Then I didn't think about taking another picture. They did look really pretty with the extra powdered sugar sprinkled on top. 

OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

 

When we lived in CA, I subscribed to a magazine called Eating Well. It was full of healthy recipes. I don't remember seeing the magazine since we moved to MO but fortunately I had cut out some recipes that I wanted to try someday. I decided to check it out online and discovered that the company quit publishing the magazine in February, 2022. That's too bad because it was a good magazine.

This recipe is one of the recipes I had cut out, but just never got around to making them. Until now, that is.

I have a young man who visits the Cafe at church who has told me two different times that you could make an oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips. After he told me two weeks ago, I decided it was time to make an oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips. I don't know if he managed to get one or not. I know he didn't come by while I was there, but I was late coming down from Sunday school so I hope he came by while I was absent.

The cookie is very delicious. It has twice as much oats as flour and then the flour is a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat flour. The recipe called for a 1/2 cup tahini or sesame paste but when I googled it, it compared it with Greek yogurt so that is what I used. 

According to the recipe one cookie contains 5 g of fat - 2 of which are saturated; 7 mg cholesterol; 13 g carbohydrates; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 45 mg sodium. I don't know how my substitution of the Greek yogurt changes any of this.

I will have to make them again sometimes just in case for the young man.

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OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2     cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

1/2  cup all-purpose flour

1/2  cup whole wheat pastry flour

1     teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2  teaspoon baking soda

1/2  teaspoon salt

1/2  cup plain Greek yogurt

4     tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2/3  cup granulated sugar

2/3  cup packed light brown sugar

1     large egg

1     large egg white

1     tablespoon vanilla extract

1     cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I used 70% dark chocolate chips)

1/2  cup chopped walnuts (I omitted)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the oats, flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl.

Cut the butter into small pieces.

Add the yogurt and

beat the yogurt and butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until blended. (Small pieces of butter is okay.)

Add the sugars and

continue beating until well combined.

Beat in the egg,

then the egg white,

then the vanilla.

Stir in the oat mixture with a wooden spoon

until just moistened.

Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts if you are using the latter.

Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out a flat scoop of dough and drop on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. (The cookies do spread.)

Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 12 to 14 minutes. Check after 12 minutes.

Cool on the pan for 2 minutes before removing them to

a wire rack to finish cooling. Let the pans cool for a few minutes before baking another batch.