The sweet life: Meet "Cookie Lady" Maryann Mazzaferro

Maryann Mazzaferro has become known nationally for her cookie business and hopes to let the chips fall on Longboat Key.

By Kristen Herhold
| 6:00 a.m. January 27, 2016

Maryann Mazzaferro, center, delivers cookies to firefighter/paramedic Denny Bickel, Lieutenant Kerri Brooks, and firefighter/paramedics Jose Rivera and Todd Mortenson, of the Longboat Key Fire Rescue

Longboat Key
Neighbors

There are many things that can be divisive in politics, but Maryann Mazzaferro knows a chocolate chip cookie isn’t one of them.

“I’ve never heard of anybody who doesn’t like a chocolate chip cookie,” she said. “It’s not possible.”

“I’ve never heard of anybody who doesn’t like a chocolate chip cookie.” — Maryann Mazzaferro

Mazzaferro, 68, established herself as Cookie Lady of Rome, N.Y., when she was helping her husband, John, campaign for election as president of the city’s Common Council nine times over 36 years.

“We would always go door-to-door campaigning, and I would always bring my cookies,” she said. “People loved them so much they said I should start a business.”

After several years of baking for enjoyment and campaigning, Mazzaferro established Maryann’s Cookies after retiring as a school librarian in 2010.

“I’ve always liked baking cookies, but when I retired, it was perfect for me to really get into the cookie business,” she said. “It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. My kitchen never closes, and there’s always the smell of cookies in the house. I love that.”

The All-American Chocolate Chip Cookie:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
6 tablespoons white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces dark chocolate chips
Flaky sea salt (optional)

In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well blended.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add to the first mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it refrigerate for 24 to 72 hours. For the best cookie possible, allow the dough to chill for 72 hours.

When the dough is ready, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Separate the dough into golf ball-sized balls, and put the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with a little flaky salt if desired.

Bake one sheet at a time for 18 to 20 minutes until the bottoms and edges of the cookies are golden brown.

Recipe makes 20 cookies.

For more information, contact Maryann Mazzaferro at 315-569-7744 or [email protected].

Last year, General Electric’s “Our American Kitchen” contest focused on six families from across the U.S. who use their kitchens in unique ways, and Mazzaferro was chosen as one of the winners.

As part of the contest, the Mazzaferros were featured on a commercial on the Food Network, and an extended version of the video has garnered more than 284,000 views on YouTube.

“I thought it was such a unique opportunity for me to promote our business, so I thought I’d apply,” Mazzaferro said. “I had no idea I’d be chosen. Winning that was the experience of a lifetime.”

Mazzaferro has created 34 kinds of cookies, including toffee walnut crunch, chocolate liqueur, dark chocolate mint and snickerdoodle, but her favorite remains the All-American chocolate chip.

Maryann’s Cookies’ only two employees are the Mazzaferros. Maryann Mazzaferro bakes every cookie, and John Mazzaferro helps deliver.

With each order, the couple tries to live up to the company’s trademark of “Friendship, Love and Cookies.”

“It’s not the recipe. Anybody could bake a cookie, but it’s the friendship and love from doing something you really love to do,” Mazzaferro said. “It comes from your heart. When I bake, I truly think of the people I’m baking for.”

The Mazzaferros first visited Longboat Key in the 1970s and bought a Portobello unit in 2011.

John Mazzaferro retired from politics at the end of 2015, after holding his office for 36 years and never losing an election. The couple plans to spend more time on Longboat Key and establish Maryann’s Cookies here.

“You do something like this, something you love, it’s not like you’re really working,” Mazzaferro said. “Seeing how much people enjoy my cookies makes me want to light up the oven and give them more.”