The scent of spices wafting through our kitchen when I was a child many times heralded the emergence of sheets of fragrant Hermit cookies from the oven. Though usually crisp around the edges right after baking, they later soften up to a satisfying chewiness.

Ingredients for Hermits:

• 1- 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 3 t baking powder
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t cloves
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1 egg, beaten (vegans may use 1 flax egg or other egg substitute)
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup milk (vegans may use almond milk or any other non-dairy milk substitute)
• 1/3 cup oil (coconut oil is my preference)
• 1/2 cup raisins *

Mix dry ingredients together. Mix egg, sugar and milk. Add oil and raisins. Mix with dry ingredients.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet and bake at 425F for 10 minutes.

* Chopped nuts may also be added

Marmalade lovers will gravitate to snacks of candied orange peel. They’re not very hard to make. Be sure to purchase organic oranges and scrub and rinse the peels well before processing.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 T corn syrup
• 1 cup prepared orange peel (see below)

Combine the sugar, water, corn syrup, and prepared peel in a pot and cook slowly until the peel is almost transparent (230ºF).

Remove peel and place on a plate to cool. Roll in granulated sugar and spread on wax paper to dry. Store in a sealed container.

To prepare peel: Cut into sections. Cover with cold water. Bring to boil and cook about 15 minutes. Drain and scrape out the white part and cut into thin strips.

I have no idea if these cookies were based on the oatmeal cookies from Dad’s Cookie Company out of St. Louis that started making them shortly after the turn of the 20th C. All I know is that Mom used to make them regularly, and they do contain rolled oats.

Ingredients for our Dad’s cookies

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1-1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 T molasses
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1/2 t each allspice and nutmeg

Cream together the margarine and sugars. Sift all dry ingredients together. Work in the butter and sugar mix and form balls. Do not press. Bake at 325 F for 12 minutes.

This has to be a favorite in almost every family that ever made homemade cookies.

Ingredients for Oatmeal Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 T water
• 1 cup wholewheat flour
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cups raisins
• 1/2 cup broken pecans

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and water. Mix flour, cinnamon and salt. Add flour mix to butter mix. Add oats, raisins and nuts. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes or till light brown.

Crispy oatmeal cookies are always a delight. These ones are extremely easy to throw together.

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 t melted butter
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1/4 t salt

Butter cookie sheets. Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Beat egg until light. Beat in sugar. Stir in butter, oatmeal and salt. Drop by teaspoonfuls 1-1/2″ apart. Flatten with knife dipped in cold water. Bake about 10 minutes till golden.

Yield: 36 cookies.

These easy-to-make chocolate and oats treats were always a great favorite in our household while growing up.

Ingredients for Bakeless Fudge Cookies

• 6 T cocoa
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cups butter
• 2 cups sugar
• salt
• 3-4 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1 t vanilla

Combine cocoa, milk, butter, sugar and salt together in pot and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add oats, walnuts and vanilla. Stir well. Drop onto waxed paper and cool.

A rich torte of hazelnuts (filberts) combined with chocolate that uses almost no flour.  A Loretta specialty.

• 1 cups hazelnuts
• 1/3 cups dry crumbs
• 1 T flour
• 1 square shaved chocolate, unsweetened
• 6 egg white
• pinch cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 egg yolks + 1 whole egg
• 1/2 cup sugar

Toast and grind the hazelnuts. Add crumbs, flour,  and shaved chocolate. Beat egg whites stiff with cream of tartar. Add 1/2 cups sugar slowly. Beat yolks and whole egg with the other 1/2 cup sugar. Add to nut mixture. Fold carefully into whites.

Turn into a greased torte pan and bake at 300 F until firm.

Pull Taffy was a great sweet treat when we used to have sleep-overs of friends and everyone could help pull and cut the candies (less work for us!).

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 T vinegar
• 1/4 t baking soda
• A few drops of vanilla

Mix sugar, water, and corn syrup together and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves, then allow to cook with stirring until a candy thermometer registers 270ºF, or hard crack stage.

Remove from heat and add vinegar, soda and a few drops of vanilla. Pour onto a buttered platter.

When cool enough to handle, pull until the taffy is white and porous. Cut into pieces with scissors.

María Teresa’s Very Special Apple Pudding from Chile

This recipe is so simple, has absolutely no flour in it (though it does have all that sugar in the sweetened condensed milk), and is scrumptious. It is one of those concoctions that you see one moment, and the next, it’s gone, it gets eaten so fast.

• 2 lbs. of apples, peeled, cored, and halved
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• 2 t baking powder
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites beaten stiff with 2 t sugar

In a blender or food processor, mix the milk, apples, egg yolks, and half the nuts. When well blended, add the baking powder. Stir in the rest of the nuts by hand (to avoid grinding smaller in the blender).

Turn into a buttered, oven-proof dish. Place in a 350 F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until set.

Meanwhile, make a meringue with the egg whites and sugar. Spread on top of the pudding and return to oven until meringue is golden.

This pudding is good chilled before serving (if it lasts that long).

Note from Maria Teresa, Oct. 21, 1982

In her note, Maria Teresa states that her Apple Pudding normally serves 8 unless Juan Esteban eats the whole thing first…