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?
Love this idea! We love tortillas too, and I’ve been buying them. My hubby likes the very soft ones. I think making them would be so much fun, especially with my Little Darlings. That way I can pull in different learning standards while having a great time with them.
Lisa, this would be such a great project for you and your little ones! And the learning side of things really makes it doubly awesome. Of his own accord, my 7 year old began calculating how many we had made, versus how many we had bagged — to try and figure out how many we had eaten. 😉 And if your hubby likes soft tortillas, he will LOVE these!
I may be a little biased but definitely the best tortillas I have had. 🙂
I’ll make you tortillas any day of the week. 😉
Oh one of my favorites as well. Your kids are getting so big. Great little helpers. I will be sure to try this with Faith, Hope and Daniel.
Loving this when you share cooking and crafting.
Blessings
Linda
http://www.faithfulacres.net
Faithful Acres Books & More
Hello Linda!
They really are and yes, they’re such great little helpers. I hope you have a great time in the kitchen with your own little helpers!
Such an adorable staff you have! They look like they know how to work and have fun while doing it. Love the post! Save me a tortilla!
I sure will! You’ll love Noah’s enchiladas, too. We will have to have you over for dinner!!
Thanks for such a cute post, Joanne, – loved the pics!! Thank you for the recipe also. Such cute helpers – your oldest son appeared to be concentrating so hard on frying those tortillas, and the children all looked so excited(LOL)!! What a fun, educational experience with life-long memories for both you and your little ones!! And I agree with Amanda’s comment on FB – you are such a good mommy (as is she – per her comments of crafts made with the assistance of her little ones)!! And kudos to your hubby for that wonderful new pantry!!
My kids are grown and my only grandchild lives out-of-state, I only see her a couple of times a year. One of the things I remember doing with her when she was younger – setting up a county fair. We fixed popcorn, hotdogs, snow cones (with old-time replica appliances), etc.. She made tickets and sold them to her parents and I), a make believe fish pond and gifts to be attached to a grab stick – were located behind the sofa, the entertainment was my granddaughter singing and playing the organ, and her dog was a “trick” dog in costume. She posted signs in each of the areas to designate what they were – such an imagination!!
A flood of memories after reading your post!! Memories for my granddaughter also!!
Love and hugs!!
Yes, that’s just how that picture happened! Everyone was working so quickly, I had to get a picture just as quick! lol
And thank you! My husband worked so hard on that pantry for about 2 days and it was just what I had asked for. It has shelves to hold different sized mason jars with dry goods then a big chopping block for baking and below behind that curtain are more dry goods. I have friends come over now and tap their husband and say, “honey, can you make me one of those.” 🙂
SO glad this brought back fond memories and oh…what sweet ones they are!! May there be many more to be made with you and the grandkids. Hugs!