Residents, chef at Wesley Heights in Shelton share recipes, bake

Wesley Heights resident and baking club member Libby Floroski makes cookies./ Contributed photo

SHELTON - A group of six residents and Chef Richard Scaife of Wesley Heights, met on a recent Monday morning to mix up a Snickerdoodle recipe for their unique baking club.

“This recipe was one of my son’s favorites. My son is in his 70s, so I’ve been making Snickerdoodles for 70 years,” said Florence Chicos, a resident. 

Florence Chicos

The residents meet on a regular basis and share their own recipes and ideas with one another.  
Scaife supplies the ingredients, equipment, and space to make the process easier and more accessible for residents. 
Once the mixing of batter is complete and the cookies are placed on baking sheets, Scaife puts them in an industrial oven to bake. “Once everything is made, I package up the cookies, go to the residents' apartments and bring them what they made,” said Scaife. 

The Baker's Bakers club began as an initiative to reignite a shared passion for baking, by bringing people together and celebrating their heritage and traditions. 
“You name it and I must’ve tried it once,” said Chicos. “I used to love making wedding cakes. I made all of my boys’ wedding cakes and my nieces and nephews.” 

Many residents grew up in households where they learned cooking and baking skills at a young age and provided their families with special desserts or simply enjoyed baking as a hobby. 

“When I was 13, I was cooking for the family- I would make dinner. I was about the only one who would make a dessert. I would make pudding cake-just simple stuff,” said resident Libby Floroski. 

What makes this baking program so special is it allows residents the opportunity to bake for fun. “I’ve always like to bake and through the holidays I baked cookies. I made a platter for each person and in order to do that you had to make a lot of cookies. So, I would start baking three weeks before the holiday.  Everybody had a favorite cookie,” she said. 

Residents can enjoy the process of making cakes, bread, and cookies with others and not be overwhelmed by the prepping, organizing, and cleaning that goes along with it. 

The Wesley Village Campus is located at 580 Long Hill Ave. It includes: Crosby Commons Independent/Assisted Living Community, Wesley Heights Independent/Assisted Living Community, Lifestyle Transitions Assisted Living/Memory Support Community, and Bishop Wicke Health and Rehabilitation Center. 

The campus is owned and operated by UMH, a local, mission-based, not-for-profit organization. 

This is a press release from United Methodist Homes.