Trick-or-treating was different back in the day when I was a kid, so long ago, in a time when no one was afraid that someone would give us poison candy or fruit with shards of glass in it.

Most often we celebrated Hallowe’en at home by bobbing for apples and roasting marshmallows and playing games wih my mother and dad.

If we did go out, it was to our neighbors, who gave us homemade cookies, maybe some apples. If we got candy it was always either candy corn, licorice or lollypops. 

Sounds naive probably. Maybe even hokey. 

It’s what we knew. And the first year after I was married I made cookies for the trick-or-treaters who came to our door and saw the look on the horrified faces of the parents who were there with their children. Times had changed and I was completely clueless about it then.

I never did that again. Only packages now, from certified candy manufacturers. 

I suppose it’s good for the economy, including for the dentists.

But these cookies are the ones I made that October day. The recipe is from my mother’s trove of absolutely fabulous cookie recipes. So whether or not you do anything special on Halloween, make these. Anytime. They freeze well and they are just as good straight from the freezer and dunked into milk or hot chocolate.

Peanut Butter Cookies

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 cup peanut butter

• 1 cup shortening

• 2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the flour, baking soda, salt, white sugar and brown sugar. Mix at medium speed until the ingredients are well combined and evenly distributed. Add the peanut butter, shortening and eggs and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until well combined and thoroughly blended into a soft dough. Take off pieces of dough and shape them into balls about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Flatten the balls between you palms. Place the circles on the cookie sheet, leaving some space between the cookies for them to expand. Press each cookie 2 times with the back of the tines of a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy.

Makes about 100