The other night I was enjoying dinner with my friend Sante and a few others. Sante is a fun person to chat with because he's one of those guys who never runs out of stories - or opinions for that matter. Some of you may know him from his days as the chef at the Slow Club here in San Francisco. Late in the evening the topic of conversation turned to Christmas cookies. Sante started talking about hermits - a cookie he makes regularly for a friend who loves them. I had no idea what he was talking about. I'd never heard of a hermit cookie. He went on to describe a simple, drop-style, spice cookie loaded with tiny currants and chopped walnuts, finished with a bit of icing.

A few things I've learned after making my first batch of hermits...Hermits are really good the day they are baked and iced. They are even better the day after - the icing develops a bit of a crust and the spices seem to meld together. Hermits are perfect with a cup of coffee in the morning. They are great on a holiday cookie plate. They are great with a cup of tea in the afternoon, and they are simple to make. The chewy, nuttiness along with warm flavors like cinnamon, allspice, and cloves strike a nice balance, and I kept thinking to myself - this might make a delicious muffin batter.

I made a couple tweaks to Sante's version of hermit cookies using the ingredients in my own pantry. And truth be told, I accidentally overlooked the "chill for one hour" instructions with no negative consequences - my dough was a bit tacky, but the cookies still turned out fine. I think I also went a bit heavy on the icing, but no one around here was really complaining.

For those of you still on the hunt for Christmas cookie recipes, I've compiled a bunch from past holidays into once place.