September, October, November, and December — or “SOND”, as my dear friend Elizabeth refers to the four-month season — are my favorite months of the year. When September comes around, Declan and I begin screening It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Hocus Pocus. We also start wearing Halloween pajamas and playing spooky pranks on each other—like the one where Declan takes my wallet out of my purse, hides it in his playroom, and doesn’t reveal this to me until the hostess is calling our name at Cheesecake Factory after a 30-minute wait. Eek!

Of course, by October we are in full swing: listening to Monster Mash, Thriller, and, kicking up the macabre, songs from Nick Cave’s aptly-named album, Murder Ballads. (Nothing says family Halloween fun like the lyrics, “La la la, la la lie; all God’s children, they all gotta die.”)

On a lighter note, I have been trying out some fun Halloween recipes for Declan—almost none of which he will so much as lick. The Monster Cookies cooked up by Baked’s Matt and Renato are no exception, but that should not be an indictment of this fine recipe.