Showing posts with label Tortillas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tortillas. Show all posts

Friday, March 22, 2013

Tortilla Chips







There’s a blogger out in cyberspace (link here) who deserves a huge applause for testing and figuring out this chip’s seasoning recipe.  It’s great!  Combined with homemade tortilla chips (made easily w/all food storage ingredients) I can confidently now persuade my kids and husband away from buying the tempting and naughty bag of Doritos at the grocery store.  {Three cheers!}
While still not completely guilt free, these chips are a much better health choice than the store bought ones.  Plus they taste amazingly like the real thing and, let us not forget, can be made 100% from food storage!  {I’m in heaven.}  On with the recipe…
Makes:  2 1/2 – 3 cookie trays worth of chips
Prep time:  30 minutes
Ingredients:
Homemade Corn Chips
*check out Jan 14th’s post for details on the ingredients needed for homemade corn tortillas.  In making chips, it’s the same basic recipe but I’ve found it works better to cut the baking soda in half (reflected here).
4 cups Masa flour
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Seasoning Mix
http://myfoodstoragecookbook.com/2012/03/24/homemade-cool-ranch-doritos/

1/2 packet Ranch dressing mix  (4 tsp.)
1/4 packet cheese powder from a box of white cheddar mac and cheese (4 tsp.) *see note
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. onion powder
pinch Paprika
Other
Sunflower oil  (preferred here for it’s light flavor and tolerance for high heat — soybean oil would also work)
cast iron tortilla press
wax paper
gallon sized ziploc bag
Instructions
Mix together corn tortilla dough, using clean hands to mix.  Using your hands will help to be able to tell if the dough is too wet or too dry.  Working with small to medium sized dough balls, press dough in between two sheets of wax paperusing a tortilla press.  After initial press, use a rolling pin to press the dough as thin as possible.  It still needs to be able to transfer to the skillet in one piece, so be mindful of that, but the thinner you can press the dough the crispier your chips will be.
Carefully remove the tortilla from the waxed paper.  I’ve found it’s easiest to remove the paper that was on the bottom first, since after being rolled with the rolling pin the wax paper creases on top of itself more so on the bottom than on the top.  The top layer of paper is easier to remove last, avoiding accidentally tearing the tortilla dough.
After removing tortilla dough from the waxed paper, place onto a very hot skillet and allow to cook for 10 seconds or so, watching carefully so that it doesn’t burn.  Flip over and cook 10-15 seconds on the other side.
Once all the tortillas are cooked and somewhat cooled, brush each one with oil and stack one on top of the other, until a reasonable number of tortillas have been stacked.  Use a knife (with a small dish as a template) to cut off the ragged edges of the tortillas.  Next, use a larger knife to divide the tortillas into desired sized chips and lay each onto a cookie sheet to bake.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes, allowing the chips to brown.  Be sure to watch carefully after 10 minutes of baking to be sure they don’t burn.  Since they’re thin, they’ll burn quickly.
Once the chips are cooled a bit, spray with oil and place in a Ziploc bag along with 2-3 tsp. of seasoning powder.  Shake to coat the chips with seasoning (adding more if wanted) and enjoy!
Bake 10-15 minutes, watching carefully.
Spray with oil (or very lightly with water) and shake to coat with seasoning powder.
Ready to serve.  Enjoy!
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Notes: 
  • I did try using Knorr brand’s Alfredo sauce mix in place of the recipe’s white cheddar mac and cheese packet and (to me) there was a noticeable difference in taste, the white cheddar mac and cheese making it better.  I don’t like buying things where I only use part of the product, but in this case I’ll just have to suck it up and use the left over dry macaroni noodles for something else.
  • Testing these chips out on my kids (against the original chips) was really fun.  They’re still not as crunchy as the original Doritos but it didn’t seem to phase my kids which I was happy about.  They said that for the flavor they liked these ones better even though they weren’t as crunchy!  My one son (8 yrs. old) even said he thought the Doritos chips “tasted weird” now that he’d tried the other ones.  I call that success!
  • Updated note:  I realized after posting that Hidden Valley Ranch Mix, which I hadn’t thought to check on, actually does contain MSG.  To make your chips MSG free you can try making your own Ranch Mix using this recipe if you wish:
Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
1/2 cup dry buttermilk powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley, crushed
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
Combine all ingredients in the container of a food processor or
blender and process on high speed until well blended and powdery
smooth.
**Updated **Simplified Tortilla Pressing Instructions using Flexible Cutting Mats
Flexible Cutting Mats (set of 4 — purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond for $5.99)
Using a rolling pin, roll the tortilla between two flexible cutting mats…
Using a third mat, loosen the top of the tortilla.
Next, loosen the bottom of the tortilla in the same way, scooping up the tortilla as you go.
Slide the tortilla onto the hot skillet, cooking for 10-15 seconds on each side.
Follow the instructions of trimming into circles and baking same as above.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Master MIX Tortilla

Tortilla Mix

Here is another mix for your collection!

Our family loves Mexican food: tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas--pretty much anything you wrap in a tortilla.  The cost of store bought tortillas seems to keep going up--$1.67 for 10 tortillas?!
Homemade tortillas are not only very easy and inexpensive to make (about $.25 for 10) they taste so much better than the store bought ones.

Tortilla Mix
16 C. flour (use unbleached or add up to 1/2 whole wheat)
2 Tbsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. salt (you can use a little less, but some salt really does make a difference in the flavor)
1/2 C-1C. shortening  (I like about 3/4 C. of palm shortening (no trans fat!))

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and stir with whisk to fully mix.  Cut in shortening with pastry blender or hands.  Store mix in airtight container.


To Make:

Place 2 C. tortilla mix in a bowl, making a well in the center.  Add 1/2-3/4 C. warm water, a little at a time, mixing until you have a soft dough.

Knead dough for a short time till it becomes elastic.

Cover with plastic and let it rest 10-15 minutes.

Form small balls, pull the dough around the bottom of the ball to make top smooth.  Set aside, covered with plastic wrap.

Dip dough balls in flour and roll out thinly.


Cook on preheated dry griddle until top begins to bubble, Flip and cook for about 15 seconds more.

To keep warm: stack between towels.

Wrap in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator.
 
http://heart-hands-home.blogspot.com/search/label/Tortilla%20Mix