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I’ve had Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book for several years, since I gave it away at the first cookie party back in 2007. The book was first published in 1963 and I love to look through it at the recipes that were popular back then. Also, the photography and design of the book is a real sign of the times.

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It wasn’t until recently that I noticed that in the back of the book there is a section of Betty Crocker’s Best Cookies. These are described as so: “Fashions in cookies – like fashions in women’s dress – have changed down through the years. Here is a nostalgic peek at the pace-setting cookies of seven decades from Betty Crocker’s Kitchens. Most of them, having once attained popularity, have continued to fill America’s cooky jars as favorites of each succeeding generation.”

The first recipe in this section is for hermit cookies, which apparently were popular from 1880 – 1890, when spices from the Indies became available. They say that hermits were originated in Cape Cod where they were made and then packaged to go out to sea. To put things in perspective, this decade is when the Brooklyn Bridge opened and the Statue of Liberty was dedicated.

I decided to make hermit cookies for Limey’s going away lunch at the Village Tap.

I’d read some blog posts online and one person commented that a lot of the recipes from Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book did not make a lot of cookies. I wasn’t sure how many people would be at the lunch, so I made the cookies a mini size by using my smallest cookie scoop. Little did I know that the recipe then made 126 cookies! That’s 10.5 dozen! Oh well.

One other note: Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book uses shortening in every recipe. I think the 60s were the time when everyone thought butter was so bad. I have made a couple recipes from this book and either used all butter or used half shortening, half butter, and they have turned out fine.

It seemed like most of the adults liked the spicey, nutty, fruity hermits, but the kids weren’t crazy about them. The cookies are not too sweet and they have no chocolate or frosting or peanut butter or other things kids love! Maybe if I’d iced them the little ones would have been more interested. So, word to the wise, this batch is big (especially if you make them mini) and you want to bring them to an adult party.

Also interesting -

- A baker who made every recipe in Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book. Here is her hermit cooky.
- Someone else trying to bake every recipe in Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book