Hermits!

We don’t often make brewed coffee at our house—I tend to have tea,
and Brian tends to drink espresso when he wants coffee—but we had
guests this week, so there was extra brewed coffee when I went to make
cookies on Thursday night.

The Betty Crocker Cookie Book has a great recipe for Hermits, which
calls for shortening. I’d never had shortening before, so I had always substituted butter, but I now keep Crisco in the cabinet, so
for once I actually followed the recipe verbatim. With just a few a lot of raisins,some cinnamon and nutmeg, and the usual  flour, eggs, and sugar, we were on our way. 

These turned out *very* pale—the recipe suggests 8-10 minutes, at
which point they were assuredly still raw. At 12 minutes, they were
pale but golden-brown,
so I decided that was enough. The flavor isn’t as good as with
butter—I think if I make them again with shortening, I will add more
spices to make up for it.