You Gotta Try This: Cookies and ice cream bars at Quixotic Bakery in Rockford
By Mary Sisk
Rock River Current
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You Gotta Try This is the Rock River Current’s dining feature focused on signature dishes at your favorite local restaurants. Want to see one of your favorites here? Email news@rockrivercurrent.com to suggest a local staple.
Where: Quixotic Bakery
Address: 116 N. Madison St., Rockford
Owner: Judy Johnson
Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. on Saturday
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You have to try: Midnight mint cookies and superman ice cream bar
Why you should try it: What started as a youth ministry project has grown into a full business with treats for everybody to enjoy.
Owner Judy Johnson purposefully hires teens to give them the opportunity to join the workforce, and for many of her employees it’s their first job.
“I kind of feel like I was put on this planet to parent,” Johnson said. “Our manager, she started here when she was 16, and now she’s supervising other kiddos who come in.”
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Quixotic Bakery offers various flavors of cookies, ice cream, cake jars and other sweet treats.
“We still sell more cookies than cake,” Johnson said. “We, kind of, learned through our cookies that people like to have a lot of flavor choices.”
The midnight mint cookie is a holiday treat: a chocolate cookie decorated with white frosting and crushed peppermint. The superman ice cream bar is a fruity alternative with vanilla cake layered between the multicolored ice cream.
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Pro tip: Quixotic also has numerous gluten-free and vegan options, providing an alternative for those who have dietary restrictions.
“The vegan people in particular are very excited to find something they can eat,” Johnson said. “We have a lot more gluten-free options than vegan, but we do have a few vegan options.”
On the web: quixoticbakery.com; instagram.com/quixotic.bakery; Facebook
Contact: 815-209-9730; quixoticbakery@gmail.com
This article is by Mary Sisk. Email her at msisk@rockrivercurrent.com or follow her on Instagram at @maryrrcurrent.
