ROTTERDAM — On paper, Joelle Salisbury wouldn’t say she’s an artist. But when it comes to cookies and cakes, she can design just about anything. “I'm not sure how [but] it came naturally to me,” Salisbury said.
“If you saw me draw . . .
you'd be like, ‘Wow, that is not the same person.’ Somehow, on cookies, I can do it.” The Rotterdam native is set to open Honey-Mills Bakery on Duanesburg Road this weekend, offering some of her intricately decorated confections.
“I'm really excited to have the storefront, just to be able to connect with more community members,” Salisbury said. The Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons graduate previously ran a custom-order cookie business, which she started in 2019. Called Joelle’s Cookie World, it offered vanilla sugar cookies for holidays and celebrations.
She ran it until 2021, when she landed a corporate job in the health insurance industry. After a few years, she decided to return to what she started. “I really wanted to do something that was going to make me happy and something I would be super proud of,” Salisbury said.
This time around, she’s adding more cookies and cupcakes to her repertoire. She’ll have some on display in cases at the bakery and will also accept custom orders. The bakery is named after her and her sister’s dogs, bernedoodles named Honey and Millie, and there’s a photo of them on display in the shop.
While Salisbury is the sole owner and employee, her family has been instrumental in getting th.