I couldn't look a mini chocolate bar in the eye this morning. By this afternoon I didn't even want one each time I walked past the bowl. What do you do when Halloween candy has lost its appeal? (Or when prices have been slashed by an irresistible 75%?) Chop them up (a post-Halloween massacre) and make cookies. Dress them up, if you will.

While we're on the subject - has anyone noticed the peanut butter cups aren't even full-sized anymore? Silver lining: they make great deep dish cookies. This peanut butter dough will turn out either - a chunky cookie packed with chopped Oh!Henrys, Snickers and Carmamilk bars, or a peanut butter cup inside a peanut butter cup. Of course, you could use any basic soft cookie dough - oatmeal, brown sugar (as for chocolate chip cookies), chocolate, or even ginger.

Leftover Halloween Candy or Deep-Dish Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used the just-peanuts stuff)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

about 2 cups chopped mini chocolate bars or 1 1/2 dozen Halloween sized peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 325F. In a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars until fluffy; add the egg and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and stir until you have a soft dough.

Version 1: add the chopped mini chocolate bars and drop the dough by spoonfuls (or roll roughly into walnut-sized balls) and bake for 12-13 minutes, until pale golden around the edges but still soft in the middle.

Version 2: roll the dough into walnut-sized balls, drop into a muffin tin and press them down a little, then press a peanut butter cup into the middle. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until pale golden around the edges.

Makes 1 1/2-2 dozen cookies.