These Italian baking ladies are bringing a taste of South Jersey to the Daytime Emmys. Their cookies were chosen to go into the red carpet swag bags this Sunday. Right now the macaroons, and the girls, are headed to Hollywood.
This Sunday, some of Hollywood's most beautiful TV personalities will be sinking their teeth into the coconut macaroons; homemade concoctions from Maria's Mom's Italian Cookie Cupboard in Marlton.
But before they got on that plane and headed west to walk the red carpet they were around the kitchen, measuring up, whipping up, baking up and wrapping up dozens and dozens of handcrafted delights.
All in all, they baked up about 2,000 macaroons!
You'll find three generations in the kitchen: There's Maria; her mom Mary Lyn; and her daughter Jacelene.
The recipes have all been handed down from Maria's grandmother, Linda... still in her handwriting.
Maria opened the shop almost four years ago as a promise to Mom, who missed one year of their treasured holiday cookie baking tradition while battling breast cancer.
"We coudn't bake that year because she had treatments," Maria told us. "So I promised her if she got better that we would do something together some day ."
That's why every day is Christmas in her shop, with more than 20 cookies on the menu from the pizelles to Grandma Linda's famous potato chip cookie (there are actually crushed potato chips in that cookie dough), and of course the soon to be famous macaroons!
Each celebrity will get 2 macaroons in their swag bag. The girls say they are making the most of their first family trip to Hollywood and staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
