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Canwest News Service
September 18, 2012 Tuesday 12:00 AM EST
Laval baker takes love to the next level
by Susan Schwartz, THE GAZETTE
LAVAL - As the youngest of four siblings in a family of talented
amateur bakers and cooks, Ani Cioffi has been baking for as long as
she can remember. She baked for her nieces when they were small and,
once she became a mother, for her own two boys: homemade cookies for
school lunches and coffee cakes, sponge and marble cakes for
breakfasts and school snacks.
She was always the go-to baker when there was a family event or
get-together among friends. The most-requested dish was her
cheesecake, a family recipe that uses cream cheese and sour cream and
makes a light and creamy cake she tops with canned cherries.
"It was mostly, 'Are you bringing cheesecake?' It got so I would say,
'Yes, I'm coming and, yes, I'll bring cheesecake,'" the Laval resident
recalled.
Her sons, Anthony and Christopher, now young men in their 20s,
encouraged her to start baking professionally. In 2009 they helped her
to set up a website (biscottidolci.com) featuring close to a dozen
items.
"We told everyone we knew about the website - and, soon enough, there
were all kinds of people making orders," Cioffi said.
Prices range from $10 for a dozen chocolate-chip cookies to $35 for
her cheesecake. Bestselling items are Cioffi's lemon loaf and biscotti
- and, of course, the cheesecake. In addition to the full-sized,
11-inch-diameter version, she also bakes mini-cheesecakes. The recipe
for the two-bite cheesecakes ($20 per dozen) feature white chocolate
and they're topped with the cherry mixture or fresh fruits.
Cioffi, 58, worked for more than three decades at The Gazette, first
with the Probe column, which handled consumer complaints, then as
administrative assistant in the Arts &Life department. She left the
paper at the end of August, when hers was among a number of
support-staff positions that were eliminated. These days, she has more
time and energy to devote to baking professionally and otherwise.
She still bakes for her sons and now cooks and bakes with their
girlfriends. Her nieces, mothers themselves now, have also become keen
bakers, influenced, no doubt, in part by their aunt Ani. "The joy for
us is to bring the family together, in the kitchen and around the
table to celebrate milestones, our children or just each other,"
Cioffi said.
As a long-time volunteer with the Armenian Tekeyan Cultural
Association, a community centre and benevolent association, she says
she is inspired by the cooking and baking talents of other women who
volunteer there.
And as long as Cioffi has been baking, she is still learning, often
starting with established recipes and tweaking them. "I am always
looking for new items I can make and present and make beautiful."
Go to biscottidolci.com. Orders must be made 48 to 72 hours in advance
by emailing [email protected] or phoning 514-894-1529. Pickup
by appointment. Depending on location and size of order, delivery is
available at a charge.
September 18, 2012 Tuesday 12:00 AM EST
Laval baker takes love to the next level
by Susan Schwartz, THE GAZETTE
LAVAL - As the youngest of four siblings in a family of talented
amateur bakers and cooks, Ani Cioffi has been baking for as long as
she can remember. She baked for her nieces when they were small and,
once she became a mother, for her own two boys: homemade cookies for
school lunches and coffee cakes, sponge and marble cakes for
breakfasts and school snacks.
She was always the go-to baker when there was a family event or
get-together among friends. The most-requested dish was her
cheesecake, a family recipe that uses cream cheese and sour cream and
makes a light and creamy cake she tops with canned cherries.
"It was mostly, 'Are you bringing cheesecake?' It got so I would say,
'Yes, I'm coming and, yes, I'll bring cheesecake,'" the Laval resident
recalled.
Her sons, Anthony and Christopher, now young men in their 20s,
encouraged her to start baking professionally. In 2009 they helped her
to set up a website (biscottidolci.com) featuring close to a dozen
items.
"We told everyone we knew about the website - and, soon enough, there
were all kinds of people making orders," Cioffi said.
Prices range from $10 for a dozen chocolate-chip cookies to $35 for
her cheesecake. Bestselling items are Cioffi's lemon loaf and biscotti
- and, of course, the cheesecake. In addition to the full-sized,
11-inch-diameter version, she also bakes mini-cheesecakes. The recipe
for the two-bite cheesecakes ($20 per dozen) feature white chocolate
and they're topped with the cherry mixture or fresh fruits.
Cioffi, 58, worked for more than three decades at The Gazette, first
with the Probe column, which handled consumer complaints, then as
administrative assistant in the Arts &Life department. She left the
paper at the end of August, when hers was among a number of
support-staff positions that were eliminated. These days, she has more
time and energy to devote to baking professionally and otherwise.
She still bakes for her sons and now cooks and bakes with their
girlfriends. Her nieces, mothers themselves now, have also become keen
bakers, influenced, no doubt, in part by their aunt Ani. "The joy for
us is to bring the family together, in the kitchen and around the
table to celebrate milestones, our children or just each other,"
Cioffi said.
As a long-time volunteer with the Armenian Tekeyan Cultural
Association, a community centre and benevolent association, she says
she is inspired by the cooking and baking talents of other women who
volunteer there.
And as long as Cioffi has been baking, she is still learning, often
starting with established recipes and tweaking them. "I am always
looking for new items I can make and present and make beautiful."
Go to biscottidolci.com. Orders must be made 48 to 72 hours in advance
by emailing [email protected] or phoning 514-894-1529. Pickup
by appointment. Depending on location and size of order, delivery is
available at a charge.