Tortillas are a big staple in our home. We’re always fixing up burritos or tacos or my husband is making a batch of his famous enchiladas. I buy them every time I go to the store and even still, we’re always running out. I got the idea to make homemade tortillas a few years ago and had tried it a few times, but the results weren’t…great.

 Struck again with a craving for homemade tortillas, I tried a new recipe–and it was a dream! So the next time we were ready to whip up a batch, seeing as we were at it, we decided to make lots and freeze them. They were SO good and it seemed much more cost effective than all the packs I buy monthly. So off we went to the grocery store for the ingredients – flour, salt and oil (costing $10 total).

The recipe below makes 16 tortillas, so I quadrupled that and made four batches (separately) in my Kitchen Aid and because the ingredients and mixing process are all so simple, it only took about 10 minutes to have four mounds of dough on the counter, resting. A bit of the mayhem:

 

 

(I shall now take this moment to tell you that my husband recently built me a brand new pantry which includes a baking station. I have been one happy baker lately!)

Now it was time to cut and roll and cook. Enter my trusty assistants – mind you these are not expert photos, this was mommy using her iPhone in the midst of the chaos to try and capture some of the action…

Truly–we had a blast. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but the guy up top was our Flipper Extraordinaire. He cooked each and every one of our gorgeous tortillas! Little Miss Front and Center was my dough assistant and helped lay out the cooked tortillas to cool. Little Guy looking like he’s not sure what he’s doing here had just woken up from a nap and is an expert and I mean expert tortilla eater. The kid can pack ’em away. Warm with a bit of butter… they melt in your mouth.

These were hands down the best tortillas we ever ate and we had a blast. We used less than half of our freshly-bought ingredients which made our cost about $5 for 64 tortillas. Not bad! Not only did we have fun, but the kids learned along the way. They bagged and labeled our heading-to-the-freezer goods and not only did we get to incorporate educational concepts into the afternoon, they had tons of fun helping me in the kitchen and working as a team. I think there is something to be said for kids having a job to do. They love helping out with “big people stuff” and can often do more than we give them credit for. I’m so proud of them and could never have done it without them. And now…we’re all ready for some more of dad’s homemade enchiladas. 🙂

Homemade Tortillas:

(makes 16)

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/3 cup of oil

1 cup of warm water

I’ll post a link to the recipe I used below, but to give you an idea, here’s how it works:

In a stand mixer, combine dry ingredients and with a dough hook attachment, slowly work in wet ingredients until smooth (this takes about 2-3 minutes). Divide dough into 16 pieces, roll out nice and thin and cook in a dry pan until a few bubbles form and are beginning to brown.

For the full instructions, you can find them here.

If you want to make these with kids, here are a few tips:

1. Assign each child an age-appropriate job or two. Even the littlest ones can help! My 2-year-old loves to stand on a chair beside the stove and when we are making a fresh batch of tortillas for dinner, he lifts the towel so one of the older children can tuck the warm tortillas inside. It’s repetitive and easy and he loves having this big-boy job.

2. Rolling out the dough will be the best job for an adult, or older child. It’s a bit tricky so I did this part myself. Even so, fret not that your tortillas won’t be round. All of mine were odd shaped with creases here and there, but once they cook and puff up, they are so tasty, no one will notice. 😉

3. For freezing, let the tortillas cool a bit. We stacked ours in piles of twelve, my 7-year-old did the labeling. For little ones, this was great counting practice and also emphasizes that 12 = 1 dozen. 

What kinds of projects do you like to do with your kids or grand kids in the kitchen?