Chewy curfew cookies

Under curfew? Make cookies!

It feels like yesterday, the 1990 curfew. One afternoon Helen and I were visiting Margaret in St Ann's. Time to go home, at five o'clock, the car wouldn't start. Somebody managed to find the problem and give us a start, but we couldn't stop anywhere. It was then ten to curfew - we were under a six to six regime. The "boys" were in Santa Cruz waiting for us. We didn't have cellphones. Nothing to do but go as fast as we could on that winding Saddle road and  hope we weren't stopped. We made it - in a bit more than ten extremely anxious minutes - not another car on the road! The groceries had been looted but fortunately, we still had in our home a few essentials like chicken and flour, crix and mangoes.


In 1970, as a young teacher, I listened to the proclamation by the then Governor-General of the State of Emergency on my car radio. It was a solemn and portentous moment. The rights of citizens curtailed in the national interest; parliament suspended; all legislative power vested in the head of state; martial law across the land, all of us subject to arrest without bail, search and seizure without warrant. It was a thrilling and terrifying time.


And here we are, 21 years since the last State of Emergency. Locked up in our homes "for our own good" from 9 pm to 5 am. Not that we would have been out and about anyway. But now without our rights as citizens. And yes, this is a long and anxious preamble to a new recipe. But I had to get it off my chest before I can even begin to think about food.


With extra hours indoors, what else to do? Meditate, ruminate. Watch television. Read. Make cookies!
The basic recipe came from the Food Network, but there some extra wild touches - like grated lime peel instead of vanilla essence. And a mix of dried berries - cranberry, raisins, blueberries - to sweeten the oats.

Butter, 3/4 cup melted
Brown sugar, one and one quarter cup
Egg, one large
Milk, one third cup
Vanilla extract (or lime peel)
Flour, one cup
Baking powder, half teaspoon
Salt, half teaspoon
Cinnamon, ground, pinch
Oats, old fashioned, 3 cups
Raisins (dried berries) one cup
Walnuts (lightly toasted and coarsely chopped) one cup

Mixing the batter

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease baking sheet (we used non-stick sheets). Mix together all wet ingredients. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and add to the mixture. Stir in oats, berries, nuts until well-blended. Use a tablespoon to drop batter two inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow them to cool. Cookies should be soft and chewy, not dry.

Before baking

Perfectly done in 12 minutes!