IMG 9430 edited Italian Cookie Company brings authentic eats + sweets to Alabaster — Al Ruffino, co-owner of Italian Cookie Company in Alabaster. (Pat Byington / Bham Now)

A new Italian market and bakery has opened in Alabaster, bringing scratch-made cookies, pastries, take-home meals and more to a space with plenty of room to gather.

Italian Cookie Company, owned by Al Ruffino and Chris Clinner, is now open Tuesday to Saturday from 10AM-6PM at 633 11th Ave SW in Alabaster. The roughly 5,000-square-foot space is part bakery and market, part event venue, with room for gatherings of up to about 100 people.

Read on for what’s on the menu.

Italian pastries, dinners, grocery + much more

IMG 9441 Italian Cookie Company brings authentic eats + sweets to Alabaster — Starting Saturdays, Italian Cookie Company will also serve its take on Sicilian street food sandwiches. (Pat Byington / Bham Now)

IMG 9447 Italian Cookie Company brings authentic eats + sweets to Alabaster — Starting Saturdays, Italian Cookie Company will also serve its take on Sicilian street food sandwiches. (Pat Byington / Bham Now)

The business began with Ruffino’s cookies three years ago, shortly after he retired in 2020 following open heart surgery.

The cookies eventually led Ruffino to a commissary across the street from the company’s current location, where he sold cookies at farmers markets and festivals. When the former post office space—also home to a brewery at one point—became available, Ruffino and Clinner moved in and expanded the concept.

Cookies are still a big part of the business, but now there’s a lot more. The Italian Cookie Company space is home to its event venue The Sicilian Room and Manzella’s Market.

The market carries items like:

homemade pastries
chicken salad
pimento cheese
olive oils
coffee + espresso
chocolates
+ other Italian-inspired grocery items

Ruffino also makes take-home-and-bake meals, including lasagna, baked rigatoni, beef and spinach manicotti, chicken parmesan and meatballs with pasta.

For dessert, try:

tiramisu
Italian cream cake
chocolate roulade
German chocolate cake
cannolis
éclairs
cream puffs
seasonal treats like sweet potato bars + buttermilk carrot cake

“When you come in and you want a cannoli, we pipe it fresh right there. I don’t like a soggy cannoli.”
Al Ruffino, Co-Owner, The Italian Cookie Company

Come to Alabaster’s Italian Cookie Company hungry

IMG 9440 Italian Cookie Company brings authentic eats + sweets to Alabaster — Ruffino told Bham Now his love for cooking for others is a way of honoring his family + continuing tradition. (Pat Byington / Bham Now)

IMG 9436 Italian Cookie Company brings authentic eats + sweets to Alabaster — Ruffino told Bham Now his love for cooking for others is a way of honoring his family + continuing tradition. (Pat Byington / Bham Now)

Starting Saturdays, Italian Cookie Company will also serve its take on Sicilian street food: stuffed nine-inch baguettes packed vertically with fillings like meatballs, chicken parmesan or Italian sausage with peppers and onions.

Ruffino also puts a New Orleans spin on the concept with a muffaletta stuffed with meat and olive salad.

At the heart of it all is Ruffino’s family and the cooking traditions he grew up with. His mother and her siblings inspired his love of cooking and baking, and he sees the business as a way to honor them.

“My grandmother, my mother used to always say, if you’re going to do something, you need to do it right. There’s no use of doing it if you’re not going to do it right.

I put a little bit of love in everything I do. I want people to taste the difference.”
Al Ruffino, Co-Owner, The Italian Cookie Company