Naturally Sweet

In addition to trying to perfect my variety of "sweet sweets",  I have been determined to create more natural treats as well.  And from this desire, "Naturally Sweet" by Eat Your Sweets is born!

My Apricot Chocolate Pecan bars that I made at Easter time were such a hit with my paleo-loving hubbie (and with one of my sister's very health conscious friends who was hooked from her first bite!), that I've been dying to try out some new varieties.

So this weekend I decided to whip up some new paleo-friendly, naturally sweet sweets.  These bars are full of fabulous flavors, delicious dried fruits, healthy nuts, and a variety of organic ingredients.  (But as a side bar - they are not 100% organic....yet!)

The first bar I experimented with was a Chocolate Cherry Walnut bar:

Seriously? What could be better than dark chocolate and dried cherries?  Yum Yum Yum! That's all I have to say about that!  These babies came out great :)


Next I tried out a bar I like to call the Double Date Nut bar:

These have dates, raisins, and two kinds of heart healthy nuts in it.  They turned out super moist and delicious...better than I could have hoped!

The paleo police (aka - Steve) loved both kinds of bars, which is what I was going for!  Even the picky police (aka - Leah) liked one of my new creations too...she opted for the Double Date Nut...a wise choice!

So, satisfied that my latest endeavors were successful, it's back to the drawing board to think of more yummy natural sweets to create!

I hope you all liked this latest post and stay tuned for more "sweet sweets" to come later on in the week!

Until next time ~ whether they be naturally sweet, or a little sinful, take the time to eat your sweets!!!

"Sprinkling" Some Moms-To-Be With Love and Pops!

A few weeks ago my friend Heather asked me if I was interested in making some cake pops for a "Baby Sprinkle" that she and her mom were throwing for her sister and sister-in-law.  What is a Baby Sprinkle you ask?  Well both these moms-to-be are expecting baby #2, so rather than having another full-blown shower, a sprinkle is a smaller-scale affair that helps build the new baby's wardrobe and collection of things.  Such a cute idea, right?  Naturally I agreed to make some sweets for this sweet event! 

The theme for the sprinkle was jungle/safari animals, so I chose to make lion and monkey cake pops to go along with this theme.

Here are my little peanut-butter lions: 

Aren't they adorable?!? I think that they look like they are either surprised, or like they have a good secret.  

I was SO happy with how this pride of lions turned out!

I had a left over chocolate-dipped pop from my monkeys, so I decided to try out a little brown lion.  How fabulous is he!?! I think he's my favorite of all :)

Now, here is my band of silly little monkeys:

I think they look a little crazy and mischievous just like real monkeys, don't you?

These jungle friends came out better than I could have hoped for too!

This is the whole safari bunch ready for action:

And lastly, here is how the whole gang looked on display at the sprinkle:

I couldn't have been more pleased with how the final product looked.

I am happy to say that Heather and her mom both loved how the pops turned out.  It was the best feeling to see how happy they were when I dropped them off this afternoon.  It was also a fabulous feeling to get asked where I got the pops and reply, "I made them!"  Go me!!!

The feedback after the sprinkle was that they were a huge hit and apparently there were none left over at the end! Another successful batch of pops...hooray!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed my latest adventures in cake pops...I know I really enjoyed making them!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog everyone and eat those sweets!

Twin Pops!

Recently the word has gotten out to some of the parents at my school that I have started a baking business on the side.

A few weeks ago one of the moms of a child in my class approached me about making cake pops for her twin daughters birthday that would be coming up.

Of course I said I'd be happy to make pops for these two sweeties!  I then proceeded to pick her brain about what the girls might like.  While these two girls are similar in some ways, they are very much individuals as well...so they deserved two different color schemed pops!

Here's how they looked when they were all finished:

The first set was a royal color scheme - purple and gold.

The second set was a more cool color scheme - blue with silver sprinkles.

Here are all the pops together:

I think both color schemes looked fabulous and the general consensus among all the students was that they were delicious!

Most importantly - both birthday girls were very happy with their special treat, so I considered my efforts to be a success!

Just another quick post to whet your appetites for the next batch of great pops coming your way - get ready everyone!  They are very cute, if I don't say so myself...

Until next time - don't forget to have a little something to sweeten up your day, and delight your taste buds too!

Happy Hantes!

This past weekend were the year end festivities of the Armenian school that my sister's children attend.  At this event, called a Hantes, all the children who attend participate in a series of skits - singing, dancing, and reciting poems.  It is such a fun, lively event!

Since the rice krispie pops I made last time for the Armenian school were such a success, my brother-in-law asked that I make pops for this event too.  I made a mix of cake and rice krispie pops. 

This event always has a great turn out with lots of people, so this was a big order....actually my biggest yet!  So, ready for my latest endeavor, I tied on my sweet cherries apron and dove in to tackle this challenge!

This is my fleet of pops before I piped on the flags:

(Please note the red piping bottle ready for action in front of the pops!)

Here is a close up of my little Armenian flags:

I decided to pipe them differently than last time - I thought this design made them look like the flags were waving in the breeze!

This is the first wave of pops - my army of cake pops all ready to go:

And this is the second battalion - the rice krispie pops:

And all together now, this is what 225 pops look like! 

Holy cow that is a lot of pops!  This was quite an undertaking, let me tell you!

Here is the final product that I put together:

It looked so cute, right!?! My little pops looked like they were growing out of the pot!

Both kinds of pops were a HUGE hit at the Hantes!  Parents and children alike loved them and quite a few people came up to me to tell me so...it made me feel so fabulous to know that all my hard work paid off.

I am so proud of myself for doing this big order, and even prouder for doing it well.  I feel like I can do any job now, no matter how big it is! Go me and go Eat Your Sweets!


Ok sweeties, this busy bee is off to put her feet up and relax after a majorly busy weekend of baking!

I'm off to enjoy some of the fruits of my labor and I hope you're all eating your sweets too!

Pops Fit For A Princess!

A birthday princess that is!

One of my co-worker's daughters turned 2 this weekend...such a special milestone!

She approached me to make cake pops for the party and of course I said yes...I LOVE making and decorating cake pops! 

It was a princess themed birthday party, so I thought, what would be more perfect for a 2-year old birthday princess than cake pops with sparkly little crowns on them?!? I was excited to try out this new design :)

Here are some of the pops that had an edible silver shimmer dust on them:

 There was chocolate cake inside these pops - YUM!

Here are some more pops with a gold edible shimmer dust on them:

This second batch had vanilla cake inside them and this cake is always a crowd pleaser.

And now for a few close ups of my beautiful sparkly creations:

And here's a shot of the whole "royal" fleet :)

I was very happy with the way this batch of pops came out - those crowns were trickier to pipe on than you think everyone!

And the feedback today from my co-worker was that she thought they were fantastic and that the birthday girl loved them too.  Hooray!  I was so excited that they were such a hit!  I aim to please all my "sweet" customers!

I hope you all liked my latest creations and the next post is coming very soon!

Just playing around....

Last week I was making mini cupcake pops for a friend at work and had some extra pops to play around with.

I'd been wanting to experiment with some new designs for a while, so I decided to try out a few things.

Here's my tribute to Stella D'Oro "S-cookies" (always one of my favorite cookies as a little girl!):

And I call this my "Hostess Cupcake" design:

Here's a new flower design I tried:

And I'm not quite sure what this one is, but I thought it was kinda artsy and cool!

You all know how much I love doing swirls, and this was seriously my best one yet!

This was actually part of my friend's order...

...It was her brother's birthday and she wanted one of the cake pops to have his first initial....yes, I know...I could be a hand model! Haha.  I do love doing lettering on cake pops though!

Well, sorry this is a quick little post, but I just wanted to share my latest designs with all of you.

Stay tuned everyone, there are going to be a few big posts coming up this weekend!

Until then, eat your sweets!

xoxo

Happy Birthday Ms. John!

Today was my friend and co-worker, Rachel's birthday.  We have co-taught together in Kindergarten for the past two years.  And over those two years we have seen it all and been through it all....and thankfully have been able to laugh about everything all the while!    

What better way to celebrate a fantastic teacher and person than with something fabulous and sweet!?

I have been wanting to try out a new cake pop mold that makes pops look like mini cupcakes.  Seriously, what is cuter than a mini cupcake? 

So here are some of my little babies when they were half dipped:

And here they are fully decorated:

Lastly, here is a close up of one of my mini masterpieces:

I think they came out pretty darn great!  I was so proud of them and was thrilled with the end result.


To spice things up a bit, I decided to make half the pops as mini cupcakes, and half as regularly shaped pops.  But to keep them looking uniform, I decorated them all in a similar fashion.

Here is how the second half of the pops looked:

Still super cute, right?!? 

Here's a close up of this kind:

And here's the whole gang...

...looking pretty amazing if I don't say so myself!

The children in our class were all so excited that today was "Ms. John's" birthday, and so was I!  I couldn't wait for her to see the special treat I'd made!

Revealing the pops was so great.  The kids were all like, "Oooooh! What ARE those!?!?"  And they were pretty impressed that I'd made them too.  (Patting myself on the back right now! Hahhaa.)

Thankfully, the general consensus from all the kids was that they were very yummy.  And most importantly, the birthday girl loved them too!  Only one child didn't like the pop...and after licking the top...threw it out whole.  A small piece of me died inside seeing one of my little cake pop babies in the trash! Boo Hoo! 

Well, my sweeties...it's time for this gal to kick back and relax a bit...with what else but a cake pop (or two!) of course.

I hope you all liked my latest "fleet of treats".

Til next time, eat your sweets everyone!