Hermits' heroes

In search of the perfect molasses cookie

by Margaret LeRoux

Any cookie-eating kid who grew up in New England knows about hermits. Those brown, spicy squares sweetened with molasses and full of raisins are favorites here. It's true, hermits are as native to New England as cod and baked beans are. According to Betty Crocker's Cookie Book, they originated in Cape Cod in the days of the clipper ships. The Dictionary of American Food and Drink speculates that the name refers to the cookies' brown, lumpy appearance, "like that of a hermit's robe."

If you ask me, hermits are the quintessential cookie for descendants of the Puritans. They're not sweet like chocolate-chip cookies, nor do they put on airs like those pretty pastel-colored meringues you'll find in bakery windows. Homely though they may be, hermits have a fond and loyal following. Lots of adults I know remember sneaking tastes of cookie dough in Mom's kitchen, or they recall trips to the bakery to buy them. I didn't grow up in New England; my first encounter with hermit cookies occurred recently when my editor, herself a Massachusetts native and therefore a hermit expert, proposed a taste-testing. Getting to know hermits was a good excuse for me to visit my favorite local bakeries. I confess I'm a bakery fanatic: some women shop for shoes to indulge themselves, I buy pastries.

I also consort with good cooks, and one of them, Joanne Corcoran of Shrewsbury, is renowned among her family and friends for her hermits, which strike a perfect balance between crunchy and chewy. They're spicy without being overwhelmingly so. Plus, they're small enough to eat in a couple of bites or to dip into a cup of coffee. With the home-baked hermits as the standard, I set out to find out how bakery hermits measure up.

My quest took me to six Worcester-area bakeries. I visited them on the same day, then gathered a group of highly opinionated cookie lovers, all of them New Englanders. We were assisted by another friend who disqualified herself because she doesn't like raisins. We tasters sampled from unmarked plates; only the raisin-avoider knew from which bakery the selections came.

At least one of us found something to like about each hermit we sampled, even though there was quite a variety of flavors and textures. But the hands-down winner of the informal competition was Darby's Bakery, (76 Central Street, West Boylston). Darby's hermits are big and chewy with a bold molasses flavor. They're sold individually for 95 cents. Darby's owner and chief baker Joe Stover says they're one of the most popular cookies he bakes (see recipe below).

Gerardo's Italian Bakery (307 West Boylston Street, West Boylston) makes the best-looking hermits; they have a shiny, egg glaze and a delightful fragrance of cloves but a couple of the tasters criticized the texture as uncooked rather than chewy. Gerardo's hermits are sold in packages of 12 for $3.29.

If you're looking for a bargain, the hermits from Widoff's Bakery (129 Water Street, Worcester) are priced at $1.50 for a half-dozen. They were the darkest of them all but lacked punch from either spices or molasses. Their texture is more cake-like than cookie, reminding one taster of brown bread.

At Lederman's Bakery (108 Water Street, Worcester), the hermits -- $5 a dozen -- are a pale golden color and a not-baked-quite-enough texture.

The taste of cloves dominated the hermits from Scano's Bakery (352 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester), and the texture was drier than the others. One taster claimed they were a bit salty, though another appreciated a cookie that wasn't too sweet. These hermits are sold for 40 cents each.

The least-stereotypical hermit was from Crown Bakery (133 Gold Star Boulevard, Worcester). Crunchy enough to hold up to coffee dipping, these cookies were studded with nuts and delicately spiced. They didn't have a heavy molasses flavor, which horrified the hermit purists. I liked them a lot, but then, I didn't grow up with hermits. Crown's hermits are sold by the dozen for $3.12.

Though I concentrated on hermits, I couldn't resist sampling two other kinds of bakery cookies, biscotti and butter cookies available by the pound. I recommend Darby's giant almond biscotti ($6.99), Gerardo's chewy, spicy almond biscotti ($3.25), and Scano's chocolate biscotti ($7). Widoff's amando bread looks like biscotti, but is much sweeter and studded with candied cherries ($6.99). Butter cookies from Crown Bakery ($6.99) and Gerardo's ($6.99) are almost as good as homemade.

Here's the recipe for Darby's hermits; you better be ready to feed a crowd:

Cream together:

3 pounds butter, softened

6 pounds sugar

Add 1 quart (18 large) eggs

1 quart molasses

Mix the following ingredients together:

9 pounds cake flour

3 ounces baking soda

1 ounce allspice

1 ounce cinnamon

1/2 ounce ground cloves

1 ounce salt

Stir dry ingredients in to butter, egg, molasses mixture

Add 4 pounds raisins

Flatten dough to fit into a large pan (grease pan before putting dough into it; chill dough overnight.

Cut dough into 1 pound portions and form each portion into ropes the length of a large baking sheet. (There should be at least 3 dozen ropes total.) Flatten ropes slightly and brush with an egg wash (egg beaten with water). Bake in a convection oven preheated to 300 degrees (regular oven 325-350 degrees) Bake for 8 minutes, turn sheet and bake another 8 minutes.

Take pans out of oven and cut into squares. Each rope should yield 6 cookies; recipe yields more than 200 cookies.

The following recipe from Joanne Corcoran, is manageable for home kitchens:

1 1/2 cups shortening

3 cups sugar

4 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup molasses

2 tsp each: ginger, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda

6 cups flour

2 cups raisins (plump in warm water, then drain before adding)

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together: shortening, sugar, eggs and molasses. Add dry ingredients and drained raisins. Divide dough into 10 portions; form into sticks. Place sticks on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten tops and brush with the additional beaten egg. Bake 20 minutes. Cool for one minute then cut sticks into individual pieces.