1/16/2010

Recipe for my Winter Day


Ingredients:
-New placemats
-New coffeemaker
-Fresh batch of cookies


These placemats were finished last weekend. I have been spending days simply cutting up all my scrap fabrics into usable pieces and decided to make these Mini Log Cabin Prairie Placemats from the March/April 2005 issue of Fons & Porter Love of Quilting Magazine. These are my 2nd pair of placemats using this pattern. Love it. All leftover scraps. It's really satisfying to not let them go to waste.
These go pretty quickly once you get all the little pieces cut. 
Last week I was visiting a friend and she had a Keurig coffeemaker. She introduced me to the fun of making any flavor of coffee I so chose and within a minute I have a great cup of coffee and if it wasn't the most fun.  I didn't hesitate for one minute. I went online to Green Mountain Coffee and ordered a coffeemaker of my own. Sure it cost more to buy the pods, but there is no guessing. An unbelievable variety of beverage choices. In it's trial so far I've made an amazing cup of tea, a fabulous cup of hot dark chocolate and of course, coffee. The possibilties are endless. I get up very early in the morning to quilt and I can just make one cup of coffee for me and not worry about having coffee sit in the carafe getting overcooked.  Now I bought this for use in school, but I may not be able to have it leave the premises of my home. 
This coffeemaker is 4 stars in my book. Love it!!!!
With all this excitement and sampling teas and coffees I decided to make one of our favorite cookies. Hermits. This recipe has history. Came from my babysitting days when I was probably 13 and was taking care of children of one of the many families I used to babysit for. I asked the mom for the recipe and I've had it ever since. Probably one of the most repeated cookie recipes in my file.
The cookies are usually shaped in a log for the length of the cookie sheet and baked; then cut into bars when cooled, but today I made them as drop cookies.  Warning: The cookies are slightly addictive.





HERMITS
3/4 cup butter (half shortening if desired)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 Tablespoons milk
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. mace
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I simply break them, large chunks are desirable for this cookie)

Mix butter, sugar and eggs thoroughly. Add molasses and milk. Stir in dry ingredients. Stir in raisins and walnuts. On parchment lined baking sheet, shape dough into 2 or 3 long rolls on 2- 3 baking sheets. Shape dough with knife so dough is spread to about 2 inches wide and 1/2" high. Bake at 375 degrees fro 9-10 minutes. The edges will be browned, but the center may appear uncooked, but remove and sprinkle immediately with granulated sugar. Let cool completely on cookie sheet before cutting (Really!) The cookies continue to cook as they stand. When cool, cut into 2" rectangular bars. 
(May make as drop cookies, drop by small spoonfuls and flatten slightly; bake for 8-9 minutes). These cookies will have a very moist interior.






No comments:

Post a Comment