christmas

New Years in Argentina!

~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

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I truly can’t believe it’s already February?!  We’re 1/12 of the way through the year, and I must say it’s been a really fun, adventurous, and exciting year so far. To kick off the new year we celebrated with friends in Patagonia.  Specifically, we stayed with family friends who have a fly fishing lodge in Esquel, Argentina.  It was one of the most beautiful places I’d been in years.

While we were there I kept thinking I was in the movie The Sound of Music, and found myself waiting for everyone to break out into song and dance: “a doe! a deer! a female deer, rain, a drop of golden sun…” while that never happened, I couldn’t stop playing the movie over and over in my head.  Maria, played by Julie Andrews, says in the movie: “the skies were so blue today, and everything was so green, I just had to be a part of it.” This is exactly what it felt like to be there.  Kids climbing trees, picking strawberries and raspberries and cherries right off the trees, running outside all day, riding bikes, swimming, I could go on…

We let the kids go kayaking in the river one afternoon, and I couldn’t help but remember that scene in the movie where the children and Maria are in their canoes heading back home and they all fall in the water while their Father watches –  although my kids never fell in I think these pictures give a glimpse of what I’m talking about! If you couldn’t already tell The Sound of Music is one of my all time favorite films.  😉

After we left our friends’ place, we continued to Villa La Angostura which is closer to Bariloche, also in Patagonia.  We stayed in a gorgeous home turned hotel that I didn’t want to leave, and that I now can’t wait to go back to one day! It was a truly incredible trip that I’m grateful we got to do as a family.

During this trip we didn’t have internet connection of any kind whatsoever for 3 or 4 days straight. I can’t explain how incredibly freeing it was to be forced to disconnect in that way.  We couldn’t check e-mail, there was no “let me Google that!” during dinner conversations…anything. Not even texting.  As a result, since coming home, I spend less time online, less time thinking about e-mail, social media, surfing the web to browse this and that. I find that it allows me to play more, have more fun, and be more present, for lack of a better word.  … things to think about, I suppose.

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cheers! and happy belated New Year! 😉

M&M Holiday Cookies

~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

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I used to make these all the time, I don’t know why it’s been a good year or so since I last made them.  It’s been a pretty busy holiday season: lots of holiday parties, birthday parties, a quick trip to Hawaii, upcoming holiday travel preparations, and other general life going-on’s, that I realized I needed an easy, reliable, and festive holiday cookie. Cue: The One and Only M&M Holiday Cookie!

I’ve had this recipe for so many years that I don’t even recall where I got it.  However, it’s a tried and true staple in my book, tested time and time again. I make them during Valentine’s Day with the pink, white, reddish colored M&M’s, on St. Patrick’s Day with green M&M’s, and even with your boring, everyday colored M&M’s when needed.  If you scoop the dough out in 1 tablespoon scoops, as I do, you end up with a solid 36 cookies. In our house, that means there’s plenty for us, and even more left over to share with the sweet neighbors who live in our little court with us. Merry Christmas!

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups plus 2 tblsps all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 12 tblsps salted butter, melted
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 white sugar
  • 1 egg and 1 egg yolk, room temperature
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract
  • 1 cup M&M’s, I used Christmas colors on these

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 and place rack on upper third of the oven.

  1. Mix the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and all the sugars until they are thoroughly combined.
  3. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Stir until mixed together.
  4. Gradually add the flour and mix until a dough forms.  You may want to use your hands to bring it all together, because it tends be a little crumbly.
  5. Fold in the M&M’s.
  6. Scoop about a tablespoon of dough out at a time and roll into balls, place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
  7. Bake for about 10 minutes.  I know to take them out when the edges are just barely beginning to turn brown.
  8. Let cool and enjoy!

IMG_5394Notes:

  • This a cookie that I personally prefer slightly undercooked, and that 10 minutes at 375 in the upper third of the oven does the trick!
  • Also, these cookies are so forgiving! You can melt the butter low and slow in a pan, in the microwave on high, in the microwave on low where you still have chunks of whole butter and it will come out the same, every time.

cheers!

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The Only Cookie Recipe You Need this Holiday Season

~ agustinaskitchen ~ 7 Comments

img_1102These Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cookies were love at first sight! I first fell in love with them when I saw them on Displaced Housewife’s Instagram post, before I even saw the recipe or tasted them.  She created these cookies, and they are incredible.  They could be one of my most favorite cookie I’ve ever made to date.  Yeah, they’re that good.  I’ve given them to family, neighbors, friends, more family, people on the airplane.  My kids have devoured them – I almost let them eat them for breakfast.  ALMOST.  I figured they had pumpkin in them, but then I came to my senses and peeled them a banana.

I have this thing with pumpkin.  I love everything pumpkin EXCEPT Pumpkin Pie.  It’s just a too much pumpkin, not enough spice, not enough dough, weird textured pie.  I’ll reluctantly eat it smothered with ice cream and drenched with whipped cream, but that doesn’t count, does it?   Alas, maybe next year I’ll figure out a Pumpkin Pie recipe I can eat like a normal person, with a little dollop of whipped cream and nothing else.  I suppose it bothers me that I don’t like pumpkin pie because I like pumpkin everything (else) pumpkin: pumpkin bread, pumpkin gelato, pumpkin scones, pumpkin cookies… and hope you enjoy these pumpkin cookies like I have!

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I’ve made these cookies using both sunflower oil, as the recipe calls for, and grape seed oil and they were equally good.  I could not taste a difference.

I also made them with semi sweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips and I think the pumpkin tastes much better with the semi sweet chocolate chips – but you decide

Cheers!