Hermit Bars: No, I Didn't Say Kermit Bars...

My mom grew up in upstate New York and loved cookies called Hermit Bars from a regionally local bakery.  After living all over the United States and never find a bar cookie like the one from her childhood, she devised this recipe to approximate happy memories and flavors.

The funniest story about these cookies?  My sister made them with a church group to give away at Christmastime.  Everyone kept asking her why they weren't green.  She couldn't figure out why anyone would think Hermit Bars should be green.  Then she realized they thought she was saying Kermit bars (as in Kermit the Frog).  I suppose you could add green food coloring to the batter or the glaze but I won't be held responsible for the results...

Even though these cookies have nothing to do with Muppets, I did thoroughly enjoy the movie The Muppets from 2011.  Here's Kermit's most recent song "Pictures in My Head."

HERMIT BARS

COOKIE INGREDIENTS:
1¾ cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon nutmeg, heaping
¼ teaspoon cloves, heaping
1 teaspoon cinnamon, heaping
¼ teaspoon allspice , heaping

½ cup butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup molasses

1 large egg
1¼ cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice in a small bowl.  Set aside.
3. In a large bowl cream butter and brown sugar.  Add molasses and mix.
4. In a food processor, put in egg and raisins.  Process until raisins are little bits.
5. Combine processed raisin mixture with butter mixture.
6. Add flour mixture.  Stir together well but don’t beat for a long time.
7. Spray a 9”x13” pan—Baker’s Secret Signature 9" x 13" Oblong Pan is the best—with Pam.
8. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until edges pull away slightly from pan sides.  Bars will seem doughy.  Insert a toothpick or thin knife to make sure they are done.  As the bars cool, they will set.  Let cool in the pan over a wire rack.

GLAZE INGREDIENTS: 
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons half and half

1. Cream butter and confectioner’s sugar.  Add vanilla and 2 tablespoons half and half.  Make the consistency such that it will drizzle off a fork.
2. Drizzle thin lines of icing diagonally across the pan after bars have cooled for 2-3 minutes. Drizzle again in the same pattern.  Cool for another 15 minutes then cut into bars. 
3. When still warm, serve with ice cream.  
4. To store, line a container with waxed paper and and layer cookies between more waxed paper.  These bar cookies do freeze well.

If Only Life were a Musical

Have you ever wanted to break out into singing and dancing in the middle of your day?  I sure have...wanted to do it, that is.  I've never been brave enough (perhaps that should be "dumb enough") to randomly start singing in the middle of the Walmart ice cream aisle.  However, I realize that without the support of many others (i.e. flash mob or fictitious movies like Enchanted (2007) and The Muppets (2011), I am resigned to "sing out" my day in my head.

It just seems totally appropriate to break out singing "Blues in the Night" the first Friday night after your lousy, two-timing boyfriend dumps you, instead of just yelling at the wall all the things you wish you would have said to him.  It's equally as plausible to sing "Cry Me River" (check out yesterday's blog) when that same lousy, two-timing boyfriend calls you to apologize and ask if you'll take him back--instead of tactfully saying why you aren't interested in dating him anymore.

And of course, someday, I sure hope there is an appropriate time for me to want to start singing "Alright, Okay, You Win!"

But seriously, haven't you ever been somewhere or had a really strong emotion and just wanted to break into song?  Even if you're not a fan of musicals, films still employ strong music/visual connections by using songs (generally with vocals) as background to a montage of images.

Hooray for music!