Norma's Sweet Treats Blogspot: Cake Pops, Cookie Pops & More

Hello folks, starting a new blog for Norma's Sweet Treats featuring cake pops, cookie pops & more!  Hopefully this will not complicate my life with 2 blogs.

Australian Inspired Cake Pops

The bad thing about being sick and in bed is that my silly IPhone doesn't stop me from working! Ok, so I was looking for some inspiration from Australia, for a cake pop flavor. My new flavor will be banana chocolate macadamia or "The Aussie" consisting of banana cake dipped in chocolate and covered with macadamia nuts. I can't wait to make it but Most importantly to try it! I will keep you guys posted. Now, to watch my man, Jim Caviezel in "Person of Interest", I love that man! I met him once and he is such a good man, good thing my husband is not the jealous type, lol.

Getting more creative with cake pops!

Boy o boy have I made cake pops since my last post! I did some Winter Wonderland ones with swirls in white & blue and then sprinkled them with sugar crystals for a Christmas party we attended. They were a hit! I also made chocolate gingerbread men, real cute, if I must say. The more I make these the more ideas I get for new designs, and that's a good thing. I made snowmen with hats and some with ear muffs, I remember wearing those things in CT, lol. I even came up with some with themes of Hannakuh, Kwanza and Three Kings, something for everyone! I was especially proud of the New Year's ones which were the Times Square Ball dropping, I came up with it all by myself, thank you very much! I did babies with bonnets that are adorable and rattles. I made red and green apples with stems and leaves, I had a ball making these! So, eat your apples for a healthy snack and have my apple cake pop when you have a dessert craving. I also made baseballs and popcorn great for sports related get-togethers or for movie night.

When we were in CT I asked my sister and her family to give me the flavor of a cake pop they would like to try. So, my task was to come up with German Chocolate, Coconut Almond Joy and Pineapple, yummy! I also promised an Aunt some carrot cake ones and with some of that mix I made Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my). Lastly I have been experimenting with cookie pops, not as time and labor intensive. They are made with a sandwich type cookie like Oreos, the crunch when you bite into it is amazing and satisfying. I will be offering those dipped with drizzle or sprinkle for $1 each or decorated for $1.50 each with a 1 dozen minimum. I also bought some Nutter Butter cookies and will be coming up for designs for those, so stay tune.

And, in case you forgot the regular price for cake pops with a drizzle or sprinkles is $2 each and 2.50 for the decorated ones or alcohol containing. Lastly for anything that is more difficult it's $3. These are also a 1 dozen minimum. While I was doing my research on my competition, I discovered someone charging $4 for a Minnie Mouse cake pop, my version is $2.50 for now! I also found someone selling a sprinkled cake pop for $8, which I think is totally insane! I have thought long and hard before setting my prices so they could be fair.

Shipping is USPS Priority $5 -$10 depending on box size I need, I can also do USPS EXPRESS if anyone wants to.

I am just starting to toy around the idea of making chocolate covered strawberries! I do live close to Strawberry Winter Capital, Plant City Florida. Would anyone be interested?

If anyone wants a particular design just ask if I can make it. Over the next months I will continue to post pics of my creations. Please consult me so we can brainstorm any idea you might have. Also remember you get to pick the flavor of cake, frosting and coating you want.

You CAN have your cake & EAT it Too: Cake Pops

Norma's Cake Pops

As a Nutritionist, I struggle with healthy eating just like you. The only way I see how to do this is approaching healthy eating on a per meal/snack basis.

And, it all starts with a great breakfast to get your metabolism going after fasting all night. Breakfast is my favorite meal and I can eat it at any time. What I try to do is pair a whole grain food with fruit and little protein. For my snack I pick seasonal fruit, peanut butter crackers, yogurt, or something like that. I do pretty good.

Most of the time I make good choices for lunch as I don't fry. I don't know how my body would react to fried foods, after giving up that practice for over 20 years. So lunch is usually a sandwich or a healthy salad when I'm on my toes, which I haven't been lately, lol. It is after this meal that I get my sweet tooth. So I give it fruit or yogurt, or have to admit, even hot fudge sundae, sometimes. I love my sweets too!

At dinner we eat a healthy family meal most of the time and again I get that sweet tooth.So I think, what can I eat that doesn't do too much damage? And guess what I came across? People talking about cake pops, cake balls, lollicakes and cake truffles, all the same. You might already have enjoyed this delicious treat. For those of you not familiar with it, let me explain. Cake pops are made by taking a baked cake, crumbling it, adding icing to it and forming it into balls. The balls later get coated with candy coating or chocolate. What's great about them is their size. Many people have compared them to truffles for their richness (sweetness to me). I find if I eat 1 or 2 it'll take care of my cravings. But if you are not careful you can eat half a dozen.

Coquito AKA PR Eggnog

So there you have it, now you can have your cake and eat it too. And the best news of all is I'm making them and selling them! I will be taking orders and selling them as a dozen. So far I have made COQUITO AKA Puerto Rican Eggnog, Piña Colada, Red Velvet and Death by Chocolate. The first two flavors contain Bacardi Rum and selling at $30 dozen and the non-alcohol flavors are $24 per dozen. Expensive you'd think but that's lower than most people charge for them. They are a long process to make, but since I enjoy baking, it's a good match for me. And besides this girl has to eat and feed a family, lol. "When you eat my treats, I eat".

Death by Chocolate

So order your Cake Pops from Norma's Sweet Treats by emailing me. I will soon be setting up a Mercant PayPal account for your convenience.

**Special Price: $20 non-alcohol flavors and $25 for alcohol flavors**

Mango Gossip "King of Fruit"

Lately I've been hearing alot of gossip about the Mango or "King of Fruit". First of all, the mango is originally from Asia and is the most consumed fruit in the WORLD! The top producer of mangos is India and they eat 99% of the fruit. In India it is considered a symbol of love, no wonder they keep all they produce. Did you know that the mango is a distant relative to the cashew and pistachio? Now this surprised me, it has 1000 varieties, that mango surely gets around.

The top 5 varieties are:
Kent - 1944 FL (descendant of Brooks)
Tommy Atkins - 1920 FL
Haden - 1910 FL (Mulgoba from India)
Ataulfo - Indonesian from Hawaii (descendant of Manila from Mexico)
Keitt - 1945 FL (Mulgoba from India)

Some nutrients found in Mango:
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Potassium
Vitamin B6
Cooper

The health benefits of "the King" are protection from a variety of cancers, like colon, breast, leukemia, and prostate. Help with blood pressure from the potassium. The vitamin A is good for night vision and bone growth, while Vitamin C is good for a healthy immune system. For more about mangos please see my YouTube video below:

On the weekend, we went to a Farmers Market in Immokalee, FL to see what we could find. Among other things we purchased a box of Haden mangos from Peru as the FL season is in the summer. The Peru mango is delicious, the only problem is I have been eating one a day with my husband! The mango is my favorite fruit so I doubt we'll have any left by Saturday. Does that mean there's another road trip around the corner?