Cookie Thursday 12/19/24- glazed ricotta cookies

This cookie doesn’t really fit with the Holiday theme but there is a story behind it that is very Christmassy.

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was working as a CNA on a skilled nursing unit of a local hospital. There were all sorts of patients, short-timers, post-total hip or knee patients who would be going home after physical therapy, and even a long, long-timer who had been there for 10 years.

This was a unit that some patients came to after extensive surgery, often from other hospitals. This story is about Gertrude, not her name and I don’t normally add names to my posts but I felt that she needed a name.

Gertrude was from Northern Italy and she had had major abdominal surgery in San Francisco. She had been admitted to our unit to gain additional strength before she went home to her little bungalow.

She needed a lot of assistance when she first came to us, walking to the bathroom, repositioning in bed, and having her drains emptied twice a day. This was a task that was delegated to me.

Gertrude was admitted to the unit in September, with an eye to go home before Christmas. Step by step she became stronger. Step by step her drain was putting less and less fluid. As the months passed, she got stronger and stronger.

In late November she was given a discharge date of December 6th.

As the CNA on the unit, I spent a lot of time with her. She was a very educated woman who delighted in talking literature or the college classes she used to teach. I really enjoyed talking to her.

She would regale me with stories of growing up in Northern Italy as I walked with her to the bathroom and to physical therapy and she talked about her favorite ricotta cookies. I can’t describe the accent she put on ricotta but she swallowed the o sound and made the t’s sharp. She informed me that when she got home she was going to make me her favorite Christmas cookies. I told her she didn’t need to but she insisted she would return.

She was discharged home with her friends on December 6th. Unit life after she left was a little flatter without our daily talks. It was December and December sucks in the hospital. It just does.

Right before Christmas, she made a triumphant return. Her drains had been removed, she was dressed in street clothing and she was all smiles. She was also bearing a box of the ricotta Christmas cookies for the unit nursing staff. With sprinkles. To make them festive.

Those were the most meaningful Christmas cookies that we received that year. But even better was to see her looking happy and healthy as she returned to life outside of the hospital.

That is why I made these glazed ricotta cookies for the December theme.

No sprinkles though. I was out.