Yaya’s is finally open! Marietta Cioffi, for 36 years a hair replacement specialist, retired and launched a second career doing another thing she has always loved—baking. Cioffi, one of nine kids in an Italian family, learned how to bake from her Neapolitan grandmother, who passed on recipes that have been in the family for 100 years, including the Got-da-da cookies, that are made only during the Christmas season.
I discovered Cioffi through her ricotta torta, my favorite dessert of 2017, that she sells at Bedner’s and Lucky’s. (She makes a chocolate one now, too.) She has now opened a small bakery on North Federal Highway in Boca, and is baking cookies, cinnamon bastone, tortas and cannolis, among other things. Right now, the bakery is just starting out (“I’ve been open for five minutes”); when I stopped by, she was organizing cookie platter orders, listening to Louis Prima, and filling cannolis.
Everything is baked fresh daily and aside from that decadent torta, you can get Italian wedding cookies, ricotta cookies, chocolate chip, Italian butter cookies and Italian shortbread. We say pop in for a visit and a box of your favorites, and welcome Yaya’s to the neighborhood.
5601 Federal Highway, 561/923-9940; yayasbakedgoods.com
