Here is one that is baked and sliced like biscotti.

Hermit Bars (adapted from CookÂs Illustrated)

8 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground mace (or pinch of nutmet
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (use less if using salted butter)
1 cup raisins (plumped)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugar using high speed of electric mixer. Beat for 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and molasses. In a separate bowl, stir together all dry ingredients. Stir dry ingredients into molasses mixture. Stir in raisins and nuts.

Line two baking sheets with parchment or silpats. Divide dough into 2 sections and form two logs of about 14Ã2 inches. Brush logs with beaten egg. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Slice each log at an angle about 2 inches thick. Makes about 16 bars.

Of course I'm curious about the original recipe. I went looking but that recipe requires that I subscribe to Cook's. Pooh.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hermit Cookie Recipe.

Thanks, that recipe looks closer to what we made before than the ones I'd found googling. I checked out the Cook's Illustrated version. Anna didn't make a lot of changes. She changed the spices. Cook's Illustrated used twice as much cloves, didn't put in mace, but had 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp black pepper. I think I would prefer the Cook's version of the spices and that is closer to what the Penzey's recipe had.

The Cook's recipe had 1 1/2 cups raisins and no nuts, and they didn't plump the raisins. Unless my raisins were extra dry, I probably wouldn't plump them for a chewy cookie but I like Anna's addition of nuts.

Cook's didn't have the baking powder, it only used the baking soda. I wonder why she felt it needed the double hit of baking soda and baking powder. And Cook's used a slightly different technique for putting the batter together. They combined melted butter with sugar rather than creaming softened butter and sugar.

Cook's economized on eggs by putting one yolk and one egg into the recipe and using the white for brushing. And they optionally dust with confectioners sugar when done.

Did you try emailing Penzey's? They are very accommodating!

Are these them?

Hermit Logs
Description:
These Hermits are dense, old-fashioned molasses cookies that were a holiday tradition in Penzey's Spices Magazine's art director Judi's house.

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Ingredients:
1/2 C shortening (no substitutes)
1 egg (Egg Replacer)
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C molasses
1 3/4 C unsifted flour
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
3/4 tsp Powdered Ginger
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C seedless raisins
1/2 C chopped walnuts
1 egg white (optional)
2 T Vanilla Sugar or sugar (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375ÃÂðF.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening, egg and the sugar. Gradually add the molasses and continue beating until fluffy.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, Cinnamon, Ginger, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating just until blended. Fold in the raisins and walnuts.
4. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Place on a cookie sheet and form each half into a 12x2" rectangle, leaving 3" between the halves.
5. Bake 13-15 minutes. The dough should be slightly soft in the center.
6. In a small bowl, lightly beat the remaining egg. Remove the dough from the oven; brush each half with egg white and sprinkle with Vanilla Sugar if desired (if you are concerned about using raw egg, use pasteurized eggs or simply omit). While still warm, cut diagonally. Cool on a wire rack.

Yes! Foodonastump, that looks like the one. Now I'll have an electronic copy instead of a dumb old catalog to keep track of. Thank you!

It is interesting how close these recipes are but not the same. This one has a much stronger hit of cinnamon and ginger. And it has shortening instead of butter - while the picture on the blog looks similar to what me made, the texture of the cookie looked a bit different and that may account for the difference.