Walk into Shirley Hughes’ house almost any day of the week and the smell of fresh baked goods wafts through the air.

Mrs. Hughes owns and operates The Country Cookie Barrel, 3162 Hadley Road, Hadley, right out of her country kitchen.

Her business -- which is regulated by the state Department of Agriculture -- started off small in 1996 when friends and family told prospective customers about her baked goods.

Christmas was always a busy time, Mrs. Hughes said. But four years later, all seasons are busy. Mrs. Hughes said she bakes for weddings, birthday parties, open houses and any other occasion people want cookies.

While working as a secretary, raising three sons and taking care of her husband and home, Mrs. Hughes said she was always trying to find time to bake because she enjoyed it. She said she always wanted her own business and started it while still working full-time at her secretarial job.

"If you’re going to start your business, you’ve either got to do it or don’t do it," Mrs. Hughes said.

So she quit her job to bake full-time.

Mrs. Hughes has her favorite cookies such as chocolate chip, peanut butter and snickerdoodles but she also makes specialty cookies like date pinwheels, walnut crescents and pecan balls. For those who prefer fresh baked bread to cookies, banana raisin, cranberry, pumpkin pecan and zucchini breads are in her brochure.

Mrs. Hughes said her husband Steve sometimes helps out in the kitchen chopping nuts or making dough balls.

Mrs. Hughes doesn’t leave "man’s best friend" out of the cookie club either.

She bakes homemade dog biscuits with healthy ingredients such as oatmeal, eggs and cornmeal among other ingredients. She said the dog biscuits are good sellers at Christmas when people want gifts for their pets.

"Nobody bakes anymore," Mrs. Hughes said. "I’m always trying new recipes."

As her business grows, Mrs. Hughes said she has a vision for the future -- her own "cookie house."

She said she would like to move from her kitchen to her own store, where she would have lots of a room and her kitchen at home would always be clean.