Shannon Connolly, owner of Honey Baked Bee (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
Shannon Connolly has always been infatuated with Halloween. Asked about her favorite costume to date, she immediately answers, “Sanderson Sisters,” referring to an ensemble she wore with her daughters as an ode to the early ’90s Disney classic “Hocus Pocus.”
Connolly wants to bring that same mysterious, slightly spooky energy to her forthcoming bakery, Honey Baked Bee, set to open in the former Anthony’s on the Hill space at 2824 E. Broad St. in early September.
“I was born on Halloween, so gothic is my vibe,” Connolly says.
Relocating to Henrico from Delaware last year, the former educator decided to take a break from the field.
“A lot of stressful conversations, and one day I locked myself in the kitchen and started baking with my daughters and was like, this is where I belong,” says Connolly, a native of northern New Jersey.
Growing up, Connolly was one of five kids, the family helmed by a mother who enforced a 5 p.m. seated-at-the-dinner-table curfew every night.
“Baking just came natural to me,” Connolly says.
Perhaps some of that natural affinity for cakes and cookies comes from her grandmother, Betty, who ran a small Italian bakery in New Jersey for over a decade before retiring. One of the items on her grandmother’s menu: butter cookies, a staple Connolly says will be available at Honey Baked Bee.
“I feel like every bakery needs a butter cookie; it’s big and it’s fluffy,” she says. “It’s a different recipe, but my grandmother used to always add a hint of cinnamon, so that’s definitely in the recipe.”
Connolly is also drawing inspiration from Gideon’s Bakehouse, a gothic- and Victorian-themed cookie shop known for its half-pound treats and an interior dotted with witchy oddities and medieval relics. Open since 2016, the bakery recently introduced an outpost at Walt Disney World Resort.
Channeling a similar thematic charm, Honey Baked Bee will feature hefty half-pound cookies like those at Gideon’s, with flavors ranging from dark chocolate-raspberry to classic chocolate chip with honey.
“My daughters love my homemade cookies, but they were never that large, and that takes a lot of trial and error, baking constantly,” Connolly says.
The bakery case will also be stocked with oversized cinnamon rolls in flavors such as maple-bacon, in addition to butter cream “doughnuts” that sandwich fluffy frosting between two airy, cake-like rounds available in espresso, strawberry, animal cookie and cotton candy varieties.
In keeping with the name of the bakery, Connolly notes, about 90% of the menu will feature treats with honey, whether infused in chocolate, drizzled on top or baked in. “Honey gives it that little extra touch without the added sugar,” she says.
Another layer of the business will be rotating themed menus. Connolly says she is excited to introduce customers to Gary, the friendly ghost and unofficial mascot of the shop. Each month, Gary will be up to something new, celebrating Halloween or hitting the Virginia State Fair (a spooky Flat Stanley of sorts), with a distinct menu to match.
“I’m really hoping that Gary will take off, I want him to be iconic — he will have a whole focal wall” in the bakery, Connolly says.
On the hunt for a space “where people are out all day long,” Connolly says that when she toured the former Anthony’s on the Hill space — a corner spot minutes away from Chimborazo and Libby Hill Parks — the decision was easy.
"I fell in love with it and fell in love with Church Hill,” she says. “I knew nothing about Church Hill to coming out here and looking at things, but I feel like I fit right in.”
The name was also a collaborative decision between Connolly and her baking sidekicks: her daughters, Emory, 3, Riley, 8, and Savannah, 12.
“It’s refreshing since I’m not doing this work for someone else,” Connolly says of becoming an entrepreneur. “And eventually, hopefully, my girls will take over, and in the meantime, they get to see me do it.”
Honey Baked Bee will be open 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
