Sometimes the introductory essays I write for this column seem at first to have nothing to do with food. I promise that if you read patiently, you’ll get a recipe at the end of this one.

A couple of months ago, as I was giving a talk to a library about one of my cookbooks, I noticed that I seemed to talk a lot about dead people.

I’m a historian so some of the people I write and talk about should in fact be dead. It would be surprising if I had first-hand knowledge of George Washington Carver, who died in 1943, or Rudolph Valentino, who died in 1926 (although the latter lives on in black-and-white movies).

Even so, I seemed to be sharing an awful lot of anecdotes about people in my lifetime who had died, like my Great-Aunt Charlotte and my eccentric neighbor Florette. It appeared from my conversation as though I knew hardly anyone now alive.

Despite my official age of 39, I began to feel over the hill. The feeling surprised me. I had no recollection of climbing the hill, let alone going over it.

After drowning my sorrows in diet coke (my beverage of choice), I decided to do something about my premature aging. It occurred to me that the ideal solution to feeling elderly would be to hang out with the very young. I decided to plan a Halloween party for Hawley’s children.

Hawleyites enjoyed a spate of Halloween parties at the town fire station 20 to 30 years ago. Organized by the Fire Department, using its funds, these events allowed children in town to get together, play, and receive treats.

Hawley’s spread-out nature doesn’t allow for very efficient trick or treating. The closest youngster to my house would have to walk almost a mile to get here.

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Over time, as the original generation of youngsters grew up, the parties died off. I knew that we had a new crop of children in town, although not a lot, and I decided to try to organize something for them.

A couple of my friends thought I was crazy to take on this task. I have five jobs so my schedule can be very tight, and I certainly didn’t need another major activity.

I love Halloween, and I love kids, however. I put out a call for volunteers and ideas in Hawley’s e-newsletter.

Fortunately, since I hadn’t planned a children’s party since my 24-year-old nephew Michael was very young, people responded immediately to the call. We even had a couple of teenage volunteers.

For example, at 15, Landon Clark had been too young to go to the parties of yore but had heard from his older brother how much fun they were. He volunteered to come in costume with his mother to help set up and to paint the little ones’ faces. I had always wanted to get my face painted, so I joined the line for that. Landon decorated my check with a flower.

Other adults and youngsters brought décor, games, food, prizes, and more. A couple of neighbors brought more candy than I think I have ever seen in my life to be distributed. Robert Sears stuffed spooky plastic hands with treats.

Kimberly Orzechowski not only popped popcorn on the spot but also provided the game that may have been the most fun: a sawdust treasure hunt. She spread sawdust on the floor of our venue, the Hawley Grove (on top of a tarp for easy cleanup), and hid treats inside. Even the tiniest of tots could sit on the edge of the sawdust and find something fun to nibble on.

We didn’t have a fund so each of us contributed something. A couple of us may have gone over our personal budgets, but no one regretted the money expended.

All in all, it was a fun event … and far less work for me than I had feared, with all that help. We even had a link to the fire station parties of old when a couple of Hawley’s firefighters showed up to help.

When Jane Grant, the firefighters’ treasurer, asked what she could bring for refreshments, I suggested something savory. I figured the adults (if not the children) would be overwhelmed with all the sweet stuff.

She brought a huge bowl of Chex mix, along with treats that looked like sugar cookies. They were not! They were delectable Brazilian cheese puffs from a family cookbook.

I had only seen these before baked in muffin pans. Jane’s method — dropping them on cookie sheets — seemed a lot easier. So of course, I asked her for the recipe. It appears below. I plan to make these several times over the holidays.

My quest to hang out with the young will continue in the spring as I work with teachers and students at Mohawk Trail Regional School on a special project. More about that in a few months...

Ingredients:

1 cup 2% milk (Jane usually uses whole milk)

1/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups tapioca flour

1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese (or cheddar). Jane notes that the cheese does not have to be freshly grated; she buys a refrigerated tub of Parmesan at the supermarket.

2 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment.

Bring the milk, the butter, and the salt to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the mixture boils, remove it from the heat.

Slowly add the tapioca flour, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed.

Add the cheese and the eggs to the mixture. Mix until smooth.

Drop the batter onto the prepared baking sheets using rounded table spoons (as opposed to tablespoons). Bake until the puffs are golden brown. This can take up to 20 minutes, but start checking at 10 or 12. “If they bake too long, the bottoms get overly brown and crunchy,” says Jane.

My version of the puffs was different from Jane’s. I made them smaller than she did, using my tiny melon scoop. Hers spread out and were even in consistency.

Mine were a little crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Since I liked both versions, however, I’m happy reprinting the recipe!

Serve warm or cold. You will end up with 3 to 4 dozen puffs, depending on how big you make them.

Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.