Hayley Shucker Recipes

Welcome back everyone! This post is a continuation of my Halloween celebration this year. In this post I use my sugar cookies recipe as well as some non-Halloween themed cookie cutters to make spooky or Halloween themed cookies. It only takes a little imagination and *poof* you've got some new creations in your kitchen. Every Halloween season I see cookie cutters emerge and the same ones make their way through each year with a variation or two. Cookies available in part 1 Cookies available in part 2 Halloween Cookies Part 1 Halloween Cookies Part 2 Shapes I used Each video is 5-6 minutes long and has about 8 cookie designs each. I'll be updating this post with written directions later this week.

Sugar Cookies (Holds their shape!) These sugar cookies taste great and work wonderfully if you want to make decorated sugar cookies for a party. They hold their shape, are strong but soft, and are delightfully buttery. These cookies are great to decorate for any holiday. Currently, I'm working on different takes on Halloween cookies. That blog post will be out soon! In general, if you plan on decorating them, Royal icing works well because when it dries it is not sticky which makes the cookies easier to package and transport. However, frosting from a can does the trick if you just want to have fun and eat them like I do. I hope you check out my Halloween cookies next Monday when they come out. I'll be using this recipe for the cookies. The blog post will be all about taking non-Halloween shapes, making them spooky or Halloween themed, and decorating them! My Pac Man ghost wants you to bake cookies Tools Cookies cutters of your choice Rolling pin Plastic Wrap R...

Hayley’s Spicy Cheese Bread I find making bread to be quite therapeutic. I like to do some of the kneading by hand, but I let my mixer take care of the hard bits for me. What I love most about baking bread myself is that I have total control over the flavor of the bread. Not to mention that I have fresh baked bread and my house smells pretty amazing for several hours. I enjoy foods that are packed with flavor, and a good savory bread is right up there with some of my favorite bakes. Think of bread as a blank canvas that you can paint however you like. I've made this bread and added some herbs, such as basil, thyme, and oregano, as well. It's great to eat just on it's own.  My bread should give you a nice crisp outside and a strong, thick, yet spongy inside for a perfect bite. This bread goes well with pasta for dinner because it  complements tomato sauce and provides a more robust flavor to a creamy pesto or Alfredo sauce. I also really enjoy using this bread fo...

Holy Profiteroles, Batman! Back in May, I made choux pastry for the first time because I wanted to make eclairs for Mother’s Day. I think eclairs look very elegant, which was perfect for a Mother’s Day brunch. I mixed them, pipped them, and baked them only to be disappointed that there was no rise. I mean zero rise at all. I was left with finger-looking, oddly baked pastry; it was chewy and had no flavor. The only saving grace was a raspberry glaze I had made to go on top of them. At that moment, I was so glad that I had decided to make the eclairs a surprise because I didn’t want to show up with those gross looking things and try to pass them off as eclairs. I baked a lemon drizzle cake instead and used the raspberry glaze for the topping and all was well. (However, I still had a fresh batch of raspberry crème pâtissière in the fridge that I had no idea what to do with.) I was pretty convinced choux pastry was out of my reach until now. Since I challenged myself to create fall i...