Nostalgia Cookies

I was feeling nostalgic for college this week.  In fact, I am finding that the older I get the more I miss about college, and the more I realize I missed in college.  College is wasted on the young!

Anyway, every winter, a good friend's grandmother used to send her bags of fat, dense, delicious Italian Christmas cookies.  And my friend would share them with me.  The cookies were delicious, the link to family was comforting, and the friendship was sweet.

So in my nostalgia this week, I decided I would try to make some here on the homestead.  I looked on the internet and found some recipes, one of which seemed perfect.  The picture of the cookies looked spot on, and the recipe included ricotta cheese, which seemed interesting, and Italian.

But this is the problem with the internet.  As a librarian, I am skilled in search techniques, but there is no way to search for Italian-Christmas-Cookies-like-my-friend's-grandma-used-to-bake.  Just trust me.  Don't try that search.

The cookies were good, but they were like Madeleines: springy, moist, light.  Not the layered, dense, buttery confections I remembered.  And the icing wouldn't stay on them.

Ho hum.  They made good Christmas gifts, and my kids liked them.  But they didn't fill that nostalgic need.  My cookie desire is unrequited!  Guess I need to try again.