gimme my pepas!

My already unhealthy obsession with membrillo-laden sweets has escalated to a full blown addiction.

 It started in the most innocent of ways when I met a friend for merienda and we shared a pasta frola de membrillo. Membrillo, better known as quince to English speakers, is a fruit that looks like a cross between an apple and a pear. When boiled down and mixed with sugar and water, membrillo turns into a type of paste. While in Spain it is traditionally served with cheese, here in Argentina it most often takes the form of a sweet dessert.

  

Pasta frola, basically a type of tart filled with either batata (eww) or membrillo (yum), was the gateway drug for me. I started peering into bakeries on my way home from work, staring longingly at the individual sized pasta frola, the portions of pasta frola, the squares of pasta frola. Soon after I was picking up 1/4 portions of pasta frola at the bakery next to my house.

  

And then I tried Tia Maruca’s Pepas. Pepas from Tia Maruca (like Pepridge Farm but with lower prices and less of a selection) are amazing. The shortbread cookie is of a perfect consistency–not too hard, not too soft. The drop of membrillo in the center is of a perfect consistency–not too hard, not too soft. And at a dependable 2 pesos a bag at the corner kiosco, they’re a deal.

Too much of a deal, apparently, because now I’m addicted. Seriously. I bought a bag of Pepas yesterday and they seem to have gone missing (Wes, did you take them?), and now I’m going crazy. Tearing up my apartment looking for the cookies. Google image searching them. Contemplating leaving the house just to hunt down another bag of cookies. It’s a problem, I know. But the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem, right?–REBECCA