Help a Joliet hospice by baking holiday cookies

Whether you’re a novice baker or pastry chef, “Baking Memories” is one event you don’t want to miss.

Kellie Hernandez will host a 45-minute “watch now, baker later” virtual cooking demo at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3 or 2 p.m. Dec. 5.

Hernandez is the chef at Lightways Hospice and Serious Illness Care and the kitchen lead for the hospice inpatient unit. The event is intended for people of all ages and baking skills.

Register for the event by Nov. 22 with a $40 donation and you will receive all of the dry ingredients required to make six distinctly different types of cookies, according to Eileen Gutierrez, Lightways’ senior director of development and communications.

“She will show on Zoom how to take the master batch and transform it,” Gutierrez said.

In fact, when Hernandez put together a plate of those cookies, Gutierrez said she was amazed at “how fancy they looked.”

“If I showed up on Christmas Even with that plate of cookies, my family would be thrilled,” Gutierrez said.

Attendees will also pick up some good tips along the way, Gutierrez said. Novice bakers will learn the basics and expert bakers will learn new techniques, Gutierrez said.

Those attending will also learn how to bake multiple batches of very different recipes at the same time and keep track of the processes, Gutierrez said.

“I consider myself a pretty fair baker,” Gutierrez said. “But when we did a test run a couple weeks ago, I was amazed at how much I learned … she not only told us what to do but why to do it.”

Funds raised through the “Baking Memories” event will support Lightways community grief support program as well as uninsured and underinsured patients and families in need of hospice care, Gutierrez said.

Unfortunately, the need for these programs has doubled over the last year, Gutierrez said.

The programs are free and open to anyone Gutierrez needs them, regardless of if the loved one died in the care of hospice or no, Gutierrez said. Ability to pay is not a factor in receiving services.

“Instead, we still say, ‘Come on in,’” Gutierrez said.

Finally, the “Baking Memories” event is an opportunity to show off hospice’s new in-patient unit along with Hernandez’s exceptional culinary skills, Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said people sometimes have preconceived ideas of the food served in hospice’s patient unit. She’d like to change that perception.

“Kellie has a get ability to create what people want and need at a difficult time in their lives,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said attendees will also have a chance to win a holiday basket filled with holiday decorations, wine and other treats. The hospice’s guild donated the baskets, and the baskets are lovely, Gutierrez said.

“They’re the type of baskets you want to win,” Gutierrez said.

Register for “Baking Memories” at lightways.org/bakingmemories or by calling 815-740-4104 ext. 257. Those who register will also receive a keepsake book with recipes created by the Lightways staff and a commemorative Lightways potholders and spatula.

Registrants may pick up their kits from Nov. 29 through Dec. 3 at Lightways at 250 Water Stone Circle in Joliet. Porch delivery, for a small fee, is available in local communities.