Old Fashioned Spice Hermit Cookies (vegan, dairy-free)

Old Fashioned Spice Hermit Cookies (vegan, dairy-free)
Martha’s Vineyard, the island off the coast of Massachusetts, is a magical place, even to a born and bred New Englander like myself. If you’ve ever read the children’s book “If Once You Sleep on An Island?“, you’d understand somewhat the magic of an island.
I actually discovered MV with my high school friends and later I met my husband whose family owns a home there. Now we spend time during the summer there, so Martha’s Vineyard will forever be in our family history.
Through the chilly seasons back in DC, we remember those warm summer details fondly – bike rides to the wild Katama beach, the quaint town parade on Fourth of July when town managers throw hard candies at parade watchers from open convertibles, walks on the dock in downtown Vineyard Haven on misty mornings, and Saturdays meandering through the farmer’s market in Chilmark..
And one of my favorite memories is of the hermit cookies from a bakery in Edgartown.

An Ancient Recipe: Hermit Cookies

The cookies are a cross between a molasses cookie and a gingerbread cake so they are really hand-cakes. And they aren’t exclusive to this bakery. They are an ancient cookie recipe, some say dating back to the 1800s. But it seems to have stayed within the borders of the states of New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine).
As you probably know if you’ve been following me, I was born and raised in Boston, but I have lived in Chicago, New York and St. Louis, and no one there ever understands me when I ask about hermit cookies.
Now, of course, I haven’t had them in a few years because they aren’t typically made vegan. And that, my friends, has been a big sacrifice on my part. Walking past the bakery doors and not stopping to make a hermit run. My family chuckles at me because, actually, I have to admit, they were my favorite more than anyone else’s. It’s as though, my husband tells me, I was born with a cinnamon-ginger-spice-deficit and have been trying to make up for it ever since.
This month, Bob’s Red Mill sent me his organic stone ground whole wheat flour and as soon as I saw the bag, all brown and old fashioned looking, a bell went off in my head.
A hermit bell.
And I set about re-constructing the recipe completely plant-based.

Making a Plant-Based Hermit Cookie

I swapped the shortening for coconut non-GMO shortening, used coconut palm sugar, Bob’s flour and flax eggs. There were a few other tweaks and since I had never made hermits of any kind before, I actually had to make the recipe three times to get it right.
Even with this last version that I am sharing, I think a few changes could still be made – perhaps another flax egg, perhaps a bit less clove and more cinnamon or ginger. I also tried baking them two ways:
The first time I made them the traditional way, creating two dough rolls about 10 inches long by 2 1/2 inches wide, flattening them, laying them side by side on a parchment-covered cookie sheet, and baking them at 350 degrees F for about 16-18 minutes. This is the traditional way and my recipe came out best this way, cooked through.
The second time I tried making them like a traditional bar cookie, pressing them into a square pan lined with parchment paper. The dough didn’t cook through in the middle. It might have been because it needed a longer cook. Still, I prefer the traditional log formation best. Once the logs are cooked, one slices them at a diagonal to make a sort of fat biscotti hand cakes. Hmm..a new name for hermits? Haha..
Let me know what you think and I’d welcome any recommended changes, especially from fellow New-Englanders, who like myself, grew up with this wonderfully haunting cookie always within hand’s reach.

Thank you Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post. The recipe, ideas, content and opinions expressed here are all my own. I do recommend you try Bob’s Red Mill products, you will be so inspired by all their healthy unique products!