Wednesday, November 5, 2008

"Make It Better" Tortilla Chips

Another installment in my periodic "Make It Better" series...

I had a request from one of my BBF (that is, best blogging friends, not to be confused with a BFF) Whitney at Rookie Cookie for a recipe for homemade tortilla chips.

I started with:

I made a quick decision to focus on trying to make oven-baked, not fried chips. Three reasons for this:

1. You can throw almost anything in oil, deep fry it and generally speaking, it will be tasty.
2. I try to make food things better by making them tasty *and* healthy.
3. To be honest, I just didn't want to lug out the "Fry Daddy" deep fryer that is buried deep within my kitchen cabinet. It makes a mess every time, and as a mom of a toddler and preschooler, I clean up enough messes each day to fill my clean-up quota.

So, with that little explanation out of the way, we did a couple trial runs.

I tried an Alton Brown trick and rubbed lime and salt on each tortilla piece and then let it dry before cooking:
No one in the Sweet Pea family could taste much of a difference. It took a long time to try and it made the blue corn chips a really, really unappetizing color:Instead we used yellow and corn tortillas at varying oven temperatures. Here's our best result:

Make it Better Oven Baked Tortilla Chips

6 blue or yellow corn tortillas, cut in half, and then in third (to make 6 pieces, duh)
a couple tablespoons of canola oil
a few pinches of salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Coat a pizza or baking stone if available, or alternatively a cookie sheet, with a light coat of cooking oil. DO NOT use cooking spray.

Take each tortilla piece and brush the top with canola oil. Place on your baking surface. Repeat. Do not overlap the tortilla pieces. Once the stone or sheet is full, sprinkle a pinch of salt on top. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the tortillas have curved slightly and have the slightest darkening on the edges.

I know what you might be thinking, "SPC, I have tried baked chips before and they are nasty." You are right. Baked chips are generally not good...but not these. Maybe it is the "fresh from the oven" taste vs. the "been in a bag for weeks" taste that makes these babies so darn tasty. I don't know. But I have been eating them for days now, loving every bite:


Ahhh...sweet,
SPC

8 comments:

Laura said...

Those chips... they look good, much better than mine turned out...

talk to me about the midwife! Where did you go? Who did you use? Good experience? fearlesschef@hotmail.com
my friend is beginning her interview process tonight, but I am anxious to hear about what other people did!

Erin said...

Yum!!
Tortilla chips are my weakness!!!
Love the Whole Foods brand tortillas ; )

Shannon said...

We will have to try those since we have many chip lovers in my family. We have wheat tortillas do you think those will work?

Shannon

Tabitha Blue said...

Good ideas! I think they look great... better than any I've ever made. We love Alton Brown in our house! :)

whitneyingram said...

BBF for sure. Maybe we should have a secret hand shake. It is a shame we both live so far away. I am sure we could cook up some madness together!

These chips will be on next week's menu. Thanks for posting them. I can't wait!

runjen said...

YUM! I might actually give baked chips another whirl. The salsa looks delish as well.
Also love your election day oatmeal. I love to whip up different varieties and you are so right, it is so easy and so much more healthy.
Have a good weekend!

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Shannon, I have never tried the wheat ones...

runjen said...

LOL. Yes, it was me that was all distraught over the lack of greek yogurt at TJ's. I was just on Sawmill today. I should have stopped in. Thanks for the tip!