Thank you.
It was really close but I think I liked the cookies, as rich-tasting and new to me.
The gingerbread was a little hard, and sometime after 2050 when I dare have this much sugary treats in the house again, I will make it without changing the flours, so that I get a proper tender shortbread.
The cake was really good too.
What did you like best out of all the outstanding things you made?
A lemon posset is quite good made from Meyer lemons, albeit distinctly different from one made with Eureka lemons.
Good to know for the future! I definitely plan on making these again. I had a couple for breakfast. 
Here’s the recipe I’ve always used. Converted the U.K. to U.S. measurements, and cut in half for 3 total servings.
I’ve made it with a raspberry compote or a strained raspberry sauce on top, or with crushed gingersnaps sprinkled on top. But I usually go with blackberries or raspberries on top of the set posset. The hermit bars give a nice contrast to the sweetness and tang of the posset.
Hard call. I loved the shortbread - very significant reward compared to effort. I went out and got some Kerrygold butter to make it again.
Cranberry spice cake is a keeper as well. I had a slice yesterday evening and marveled at just how much better it gets as the days go by. Dramatic improvement over day 1.
I did a few posset comparisons here:
And here:
I thought the ricotta brown butter cookies improved greatly from day 2 onwards vs day 1.
Awesome! Thank you!
I’m not a purist by any means but Carole Walter’s recipe for hermits is so changed, it’s something different. Probably lovely, but not a hermit. These are not meant to be a fancy cookie. Not full of candied, liquor soaked fruit.
No candied fruit, just mixed dried fruit. And this is what she says in the intro.
I haven’t looked into how accurate her claims are, but if true then her recipe seems in keeping with tradition.
In this article citron is mentioned, so even candied fruit seems fair game, and the comparison to fruit cake explains why there may have been liquor.
When it comes to hermits I can only relate to 150 years ago and my grandmother’s recipe. People were generally poor due to various wars and rationing and hermits were a cheap bar cookie to make that kept well. When I asked for the recipe to make them, grandma asked me why, since they were hardly as interesting or delicious as cookies like chocolate chip. It seems that hermits were the Rodney Dangerfield of cookies, they didn’t get any respect. Still, I liked them then and still do.
Making a half batch of ginger spice cookies tonight to gift to a friend tomorrow with other varieties I still have around.
My piano teacher used to offer me Hermits in southwestern Ontario, and they seemed like a health nut- type of cookie to me when I was 7 or 8.
There’s a bakery near Algonquin Park, with a location in Dwight, ON as well as a 2nd location in Huntsville (Ontario), called Henrietta’s Pine Bakery, that has been famous for its Hermits for at least 40 years.
Thanks, will try this soon! (I am usually a tightwad about things like subscribing to sites like ATK/Cooks, etc. but I like them enough that I splurge)…
I’m more of a tightwad than you; I search for a blog that has made the recipe.
I do, too.
Thank you for finding that @Aubergine !
Can’t say I blame you all for looking for the free ones, and I do too, but (since I discouraged my kid from majoring in it) I like to think I’m supporting journalism. At least when I use the same source several times a year.
My daughter still writes from time to time, as do I, but not for money.
I liked that “Saving Room For Desert” “how to”, and I like that she credits the source, but I also like the “why this works” stuff in ATK.
PS; If I could only “redistribute” my cash to one source for for food, I don’t know that it would be ATK/CI.
How accurate are ingredient measures in the blog write-up of Lemon Posset? Top sections says 4 servings but instructions say divide into SIX bowls. Also total time does not include the 3 hours of CHILL time.
We’re still in full-on holiday mode and will be until the 7th of January. Today DH made himself a Swedish Sandwich Cake, a holiday tradition in his family. This one includes shrimp, cold-smoked salmon and hardboiled eggs.
THAT is interesting. Is it mayo as frosting?
