Hermit Bars

I made these hermit bars for Matthew. I sent them to him in a care package because apparently these bars hold up pretty well when mailing them to far away places. I had never heard of these bars until one day Matt told me about them. I guess these are very popular in care packages sent to the military. These bars are very easy to make and quite flavorful, too. They are a combination of a soft cookie, a fig newton and gingerbread. Usually packages that I send out to Matt tend to get there in a month, so once he gets them we'll see how they hold up and I hope he likes them!

INGREDIENTS (makes 16 bars)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup mild molasses
• 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg white (large)
• 1/3 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
• 1/3 cup raisins, plumped and dried (I used 50% raising and 50% currants)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment (I used foil and greased it with butter).

Thoroughly stir flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and salt together in a medium size mixing bowl. Make a well in center of flour mixture.

In a small bowl, stir together molasses, butter, vanilla and egg white. Pour mixture into well; stir until well mixed. Stir in toasted pecans and raisins.

Divide mixture in half and shape each half into a 10×2 inch rectangle (approximately). Make sure the rectangles are spaced about 4 inches apart or more on cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges seem browned and bars appear set and aromatic. Remove from oven and slide parchment onto a large cutting board. Slice each rectangle cross-wise into 1 ½ inch bars. Let cool completely. Recipe from CookieMadness.net