PETOSKEY — Holly and her husband Mike Kotz have operated Lost Village Pierogi in Petoskey since 2020. There, they offer more than 30 kinds of pierogi along with Polish and Cuban dishes. They have hosted pierogi sales and classes throughout northern Michigan.
In October, Holly launched HollyDay Confections. She said her husband encouraged her to start her own business after years of making sweet treats.
“I’ve been doing Christmas baking for my family as long as I can remember,” Holly said. “I started this year. I’ve been gathering recipes and put a menu together.”
Initially, Kotz said, she thought about opening a storefront but decided instead to bake from her home under the Michigan Cottage Food Law. This made it easier for her family members to sample her baked goods before she added them to her menu.
“I reorganized the kitchen and got started,” she said. “I can work whenever this way. It’s been really fun.”
She can make cakes, cookies, breads and more. The “confections” part of her menu includes cherry cashew clusters and milk chocolate coconut haystacks.
“I do lots of variations on recipes that I grew up trying as a kid,” Kotz said.
For instance, she makes her grandma’s oatmeal cookies but adds butterscotch chips instead of raisins. She came up with a strawberry cream cheese coffee cake recipe after taking her kids strawberry-picking when they were little. She makes banana bread with nuts, chocolate chips or pineapple and coconut — which Kotz calls “Mele Kalikimaka” or Hawaiian-style bread.
Dawn Beardsley, of Petoskey, has ordered that version of banana bread. She said she knows Kotz but learned of her new baking endeavor on Facebook.
“I’ve had her cooking in the past, and I decided to order something from her that we haven’t had,” Beardsley said. “I will order from her again. I highly recommend her.”
Kotz added that she has done a couple custom orders so far and should be able to do more in the future. She is working on decorated cookies and her version of whoopie pies: two pieces of thin cake with frosting in between. She can roll them in different colored sprinkles for different holidays or occasions. She hopes to add them to her menu soon.
“My menu will expand as I practice and prepare new things,” she said.
Learn more on the HollyDay Confections Facebook page or contact hollydayconfections@gmail.com or 616-734-7830.