www.annnutandfruitcake.com

Of all the teachers I’ve had in my life, I learned the most from my mother’s hands. Her hands were her lifeblood--her utensils for our family trade and the most important tool in baking her famous West Indies Black Fruit Cake. My mother’s hands showed me how to mix ingredients on instinct rather than measurements; They taught me the beauty of creation with natural, fresh ingredients. It was the life in her hands that showed me the difference between just baking and baking with love and passion.

The passion that my mother showed in the kitchen was a valuable element of her entire life. Her kitchen taught me to show delight in everything. I carried my mother’s dedication with me from the kitchen in the West Indies to nursing school in London. Time in my mother’s bakery taught me to be gentle, kind, loving and thorough, and I used each of these skills to become a better nurse.

By becoming a Registered Nurse, I learned about the importance of eating well for good health.  After years in medicine, I felt a calling to figure out how to combine healthy, natural ingredients into every day items.

After 30 years, I decided to take everything I learned about good health as a nurse, and open a bakery that offers healthy, holistic products into delicious baked goods. I wanted to bake in an environment as natural and preservative free as the one I grew up in. I took a retirement package from my job and moved to Central Florida to open my dream bakery. The dream was not yet in hand though, and I had to wait several years through financial hardship, personal strain and government red tape before I was able to build out my space and open the doors for business.

While on the way to building my dream bakery, I had a dream that reinvigorated the passion my mother imparted in me so many years before.  I dreamed a man came up to me in a supermarket with a brightly colored box. The man instructed me to make carrot and raisin cookies. That dream, combined with my already established desire, put me on a reinforced track of creation.

I put nutrition first when I create my recipes. Each cookie boasts vitamins and antioxidants that promote health and vitality.  In honor of my mother our baked goods are called “Glady Treat”.  All of our baked goods are full of flavor and made with natural and organic ingredients.  I perfected my recipes to change the rules on “cookies” by mixing natural fruits and vegetables with traditional cookie ingredients to create flavorful and still healthy alternatives to typical sweets.

My line includes all natural Carrot & Raisin, Beet Root & Raisin, Pumpkin & Molasses, Oatmeal & Raisin and Chocolate Chip Cookies.  In our Chocolate Chip cookie we use organic chocolate chips.  Our gluten-free cookie line includes an Apple cookie and Banana Chia cookie. Each ingredient boasts numerous health benefits, and yet the cookies still offer flavor and satisfaction of your sweet tooth as well as a nutritional snack.

The ingredients were picked carefully for their nutritional value. Every bit used is natural and/or totally organic and emulates the natural food that I grew up with. Our gluten-free cookies offer a delicious alternative for those with wheat-sensitivities. The beetroot in my Beet Root & Raisin cookies contain beta-carotene—a valuable source of antioxidants.  On a recent Oprah Radio Show, “Dr. Oz speaks to the health benefits of the chia seed which has high levels of calcium, is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, high in fiber, contains iron and magnesium and is a powerful antioxidant”. 

In keeping with our heirloom traditional we offer our West Indies Black Fruit Cake which is beautifully recreated today to perfection.  Each cake is homemade with the same care and love from generation to generation. We begin with raisins and apples soaked in a blend of wine, brandy and rum.  Our wine is sulfite-free, blended with Jamaican rum made from pure sugar cane, and a brandy of remarkable character.

 In my life, I have realized my dreams of having a family, being a mother, becoming a nurse and now opening a bakery. Though it has not been an easy road to get here, I held on with hands as strong and dedicated as my mothers. I consider it a privilege to now be able to do my part to make the world a healthier place—one cookie at a time.