Teacher Gifts All Year Long!

The school year has just begun but it’s never too early to start showing your appreciation for the men and women who pour into our children. Teacher gifts in the form of volunteer hours or teacher supplies can be a major help in almost any classroom.

But what about a gift in a sweeter form? 

Gifts for your child’s teacher can be in the form of a weekly treat for well-behaved students or even for those who meet their reading requirements. Some teacher gifts can be more personal, such as a personalized cookie or their favorite cupcake.

Cookies for the class

Bringing cookies to your child’s classroom may be a great way to show your appreciation to the teacher…provided you’ve cleared it with them ahead of time. When the classwork becomes mundane, a small treat in the form of an M & M cookie can be just what the entire class needs. Just be sure to bring enough for the teacher to have a couple as well.

Favorite cupcakes

Does your child’s teacher have a favorite food or dessert? A great way to build a rapport with anyone is through food. And what better way to get to know your child’s teacher than with a cupcake?

As the year progresses and your relationship with your child’s teacher grows, you can discover what they like and don’t like. Some teachers love chocolate while others don’t. You may find out about a favorite restaurant a teacher frequents every Friday morning. No matter what it is, finding a teacher gift that is perfect doesn’t have to be difficult.

Personalized cookies

“A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” –Dale Carnegie

We’ve made teacher gifts for more than 20 years. One of the most popular gift year after year is a personalized cookie. No matter if it’s a simple design or elaborate details, add a special message or the teacher’s name to a cookie. When you go the extra mile and show your child’s teacher how much you appreciate all they do it can be the added boost they need.

Staff and teacher gifts

The school as a whole is responsible for the care of your child. Don’t forget to thank them for their hard work! Bring an assortment of donuts or a tray of cookies on a random day just to say ‘thank you.’ Sometimes, even the smallest of things can go a long way in rejuvenating an entire faculty.

Ingredients and food allergies

There are some schools and classrooms which don’t allow outside foods due to allergies or ingredient concerns. It’s important to note: we are NOT a peanut-free facility. We have ingredient lists on our website for iced cookies and some everyday cookies, however, we always stress to error on the side of caution when serving any foods containing potential allergens.

As always, we appreciate you and continue to be grateful to be a part of your celebrations. We are most happy to assist you in planning your teacher gifts for this school year.

Thank you.

Psalm 34:8…Taste and see that the Lord is good…

Back to School Time Again

It’s back to school time again and we’re so excited! We LOVE seeing all the fresh faced, mostly smiling children before and after school. While you have been scrambling to get school pens and pencils, new clothing and shoes, and those cute little notebooks with puppies or kittens on them, we’ve been busy little bees getting ready for you.

Back to school time means that most of our customers will return to their regular morning habit of stopping in for a quick bite, coffee, or even a special donut for your littles. To help make your mornings run a little smoother, we’re highlighting some quick and generally healthy breakfast and lunch ideas.

Breakfast

Every parent experiences some sort of morning rush throughout the school year- especially in the first weeks of back to school time. No matter if it’s a case of a silent alarm clock, a bad hair day, or even those pesky shoes that go missing overnight, sometimes just getting everyone out the door before the school bell rings is an accomplishment.

We’ve all been there.

Some of us have set up camp there…just saying.

That’s another topic for another day. So, to ease your morning stress and to help you fuel your children before school, we’ve put together a list of some of our most popular breakfast items.

Breakfast Sandwich

Our breakfast sandwiches are made with freshly cracked eggs and homemade bread. You can add your choice of meat including ham, turkey, bacon, or sausage. Add cheese if you’d like. We offer American, Swiss, Provolone, and Cheddar.

Want some veggies mixed in? Just ask.  

If you’re running short on time, give us a call ahead of time. That way, your breakfast sandwich can be hot and ready when you walk through our doors.

Donuts & Danish

A donut may not provide the protein that a breakfast sandwich does, but it will provide energy for your child to start their school day. We offer over 20 varieties of donuts on a daily basis. And if we don’t have what your little angel wants, we will do our best to whip one up.

Cheese pockets are among our most popular Danish in the morning. And other Danish such as apple or pecan, provide a little more protein as well as energy. Our daily Danish variety includes cherry, blueberry, lemon, and meltaway.

Parents, don’t forget your own needs. We have hot coffee brewing all morning long. And after you drop your littles off, swing back in to reward yourself with a treat.

Lunch

Do you know we also offer cold sandwiches in the morning?

If you’re low on time or even sandwich supplies, we can make your child’s school sandwich while you eat breakfast. Ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, even peanut butter and jelly can all be ready by the time you leave for school. If you call ahead, you’ll have time to pick out a cookie too.

Fletcher Lunch

For more than 11 years, we’ve created a special menu for high school students and teachers. This menu is designed to be quick, easy, and affordable. This tradition will carry on this year as well. If you’re a Fletcher High School student or teacher, be sure to ask for the Fletcher menu when you come in.

After School Treats

Children coming in for after school treats is a wonderful tradition. It brings us so much joy when little faces light up at the sight of all the cookies in our case. Cookie varieties vary daily, but you can be sure to see sugar cookies, decorated cookies, or one of our everyday cookies in the case any time you come in.

Everyday Teacher Gifts

Teachers like apples, but they LOVE cookies even more. We can’t be 100% sure, but there’s a good chance your child will get a super big smile when they bring a treat from Cinotti’s into the classroom.

Back to School

It’s hard to believe it’s back to school time again. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the commencement of 7 of our employees. 

No matter if you have one celebrating their last year or one whose just beginning their journey, we are here. Come cry over a donut or celebrate with a cupcake.

From breakfast and lunch to school treats and gifts, our team is ready to help you in any way. As always, we sincerely thank you for allowing us to be a part of your family traditions.

Planning the perfect graduation cake

Graduation commencement can be the highlight of any student and their parents. No matter if you’re celebrating a high school or college graduation, the achievement is an occasion worth acknowledging in a big way. And no celebration is complete without a fun and festive graduation cake.

But planning a graduation cake can be confusing and even stressful if you’re unsure what you want. The bevy of photos on the internet can be helpful in designing, however, there are so many other elements that go into planning your perfect graduation cake.

Servings

A great place to start when planning the perfect graduation cake is to determine how many guests you wish to serve. Our round cakes can serve as few as 6 or as many as 65. Tiered cakes can serve as few as 20 or as many as 600. Sheet cakes will serve between 25 and 100 guests while sculpted cakes may serve 15 to 30.

If you’re unsure how many guests to expect, a good rule of thumb is to plan on serving 80% of invited guests. You can use our cake serving guide to help you determine what size cake is best for you. Before you make your final decision on what type of cake to begin with, there are a few serving considerations to keep in mind.

Tiered and sculpted cakes can be tricky to serve if you’ve never done it before and can require a skilled server to ensure maximum servings are met. These delicate cakes require a large flat surface, a steady hand, and careful driving when transporting from place to place. Depending on your flavor, design, and outdoor temperatures, some cakes may need to be kept refrigerated.

If you’re looking for easy serving for a laid back party, a single tiered round cake or a sheet cake may best suit your needs. While these cakes must be transported with the same care and attention as tiered and sculpted cakes, round and sheet cakes are much easier to serve. Sheet cakes are also great for celebrating multiple graduates or different school colors.

Flavors and Fillings

The flavor options for your graduation cake greatly depends on the type and size of cake you opt for. Round cakes and sheet cakes are available in most cake flavors, fillings, and icings. Tiered cakes can have one flavor and filling on the top tier with a completely different flavor and filling on the bottom tier. Sculpted cakes are mostly available in vanilla cake, however in some cases and designs, other cake flavors may be available. Fillings are not available inside sculpted cakes, however, we are happy to provide a side of your favorite filling if you would like the added flavor.

Cake flavors

The most popular flavors include our homemade vanilla or chocolate. Many graduates prefer to include both flavors and opt for a layer of each flavor. You can also choose from our specialty cake flavors including carrot, red velvet, strawberry, almond, and more.

Icings

Our standard icing is our famed buttercream icing. We use this as filling and icing in almost all our cakes. While buttercream is the most common icing, we do offer a variety of other flavors. Chocolate buttercream, strawberry buttercream, and almond buttercream are among some of the flavors we can whip up. Depending on your cake size and design options we can also use whipped cream or cream cheese icing.

Fillings

Some cakes allow for a filling between the layers. Round, tiered, and sheet cakes can have one filling with buttercream icing. Popular filling options include strawberry, strawberry cheese, raspberry, chocolate, and lemon.

Design

Designing your graduation cake is the most important process in the cake planning process. You may want your cake to make a statement while incorporating all the elements that reflect who you are on your special day. Perhaps you want an elegant design for an intimate dinner party. Or you may want to create a fun party-like cake that celebrates all your hard work.

If you’re choosing a round or sheet cake you may want festive balloons or pretty flowers that match your school colors. If you’re planning a family gathering, you can bring in a photo that we can reproduce on a sheet of fondant that can cover most of your cake. Some graduation cakes have a laid back beach theme that includes waves, edible sand, and palm trees. In all of these designs, we can add a keepsake graduation cap and diploma.

Tiered cake designs can vary greatly. Some graduation cakes incorporate every element of a graduates schooling such as nursing, aviation, or teaching. Other cakes may include a host of small, icing framed, photos of the graduate’s school activities as well as life interests such as events, school clubs, social engagements, and family times. We’ve created tiered graduation cakes that have nothing to do with school at all. Some graduates want a fun cake with elaborate designs such as a Parisian or Disney theme.

Sculpted graduation cakes are also available in a variety of themes. How does a cake in the shape like an over sized graduation cap sound? Or perhaps you’d like a stack of books topped with a fondant graduation cap and diploma? Our sculpted cakes are created by hand in a myriad of designs that can cap off your graduation celebration.

We strongly urge you to have an idea of your cake design before starting the order process. The internet is full of amazing photos that can help you decide what cake is best for you. While we will never claim to be able to reproduce a cake made by another designer, we can use it as inspiration to create your one-of-a-kind graduation cake.

Budget

Your budget is the most important, yet least discussed element of your graduation cake planning. Finding a three-tiered cake on Pinterest that is covered in fondant and designed with custom fondant pieces is certainly something we can create. However, tiered cakes, fondant, and custom pieces require more time, training, and resources than a cake with fewer design elements. This will have a major effect on availability and final cost.

It’s important to have a practical idea of the amount of money you want to spend on your graduation cake before hitting the designing stage. Some cakes and designs can be created with our buttercream icing. Our skilled decorators have mastered the art of buttercream detailing which allows us to offer more designs at a fraction of the fondant costs. If you have a cake budget that will not accommodate the highly detailed fondant work, we are happy to help come up with a design plan that may fit your needs without stretching your wallet.

Transferring and storage

Cakes are delicate works of art and need to be transported and stored properly. No matter the size, flavor, or design of your graduation cake, it should always sit on a flat surface of your vehicle while you travel. This can be the floorboard, trunk, or back cargo area. Holding a cake in your lap or simply putting it on the seat of your car is not recommended. In fact, that is the biggest reason many cakes slide or fall.

Once you arrive at your home or celebration venue, bring the cake to a cool area (preferably indoors) and leave it on a flat surface. Be sure to keep animals, children, and hungry guests away from the cake until you’re ready to serve.

Let us help plan your graduation cake

If you are ready to plan your graduation cake with your favorite hometown bakery, we are here and ready to make your day special. We have provided graduation cakes for families in the Jacksonville area for more than 50 years.

It is our honor and privilege to be a part of your family’s celebration.

Congratulations Class of 2019

Psalm 34:8 …taste and see that the Lord is good…