More recipes. More fun. More Maria.
Here, you’ll find fresh ideas for baking (beyond the bakery) and some “not sweet” recipes for delicious bites, cocktails, and travels. Consider this my food journal—but not the kind that tracks calories.
Explore my favorite recipes
Sweets
From the bakery and beyond
Beyond Sweets
Something savory
Intermezzo
Published favorites
Cori’s Kitchen
Mom’s specialties
Full-time bakery owner, sometimes food writer, and all-the-time food enthusiast
I’m Maria, and for the past thirty-ish years, I’ve been all of these things
You might know me from my popular Waterbury, Connecticut bakery, Sweet Maria’s. You also might recognize me from my articles in Intermezzo Magazine, or from my slightly successful cookbooks.
I’m also an amateur food stylist—I love making real food look good enough to eat.
Whether I’m making, styling, or eating food, I love to share the recipes and traditions I grew up with in my close-knit Italian-American family. I’m inspired daily, finding joy in prepping the kitchen and passing food around the table, and I hope to bring you some inspiration, too.
The Recipe Renovation
My first book, Sweet Maria’s Italian Cookie Tray, was a sheer labor of love, and writing recipes for my cookbooks (cookies, desserts, and lasagna!) has been a true joy.
Collecting, testing, and innovating classic Italian-American cookie recipes was a way to keep traditions and food memories alive for future generations; compiling them into one book was just as much for me as it was for families that may have lost their own recipes and connections to the past.
Revisiting these recipes now, 25 years later, I’m still in awe of the powerful memories they evoke, but I consider myself a much better baker and writer now, and think the time is right for a little facelift…just for the recipes—I’ll wear my gray and laugh lines proudly.
Through my “Recipe Renovation,” I’ll be taking a second look at my cookbooks, sharing revised recipes and photos along the way.
More on the blog
From around the table or around the world, here are some of my favorite experiences.
Customers ask me this all the time