We're very fortunate to live in a place where the aroma of hot corn tortillas welcomes shoppers at every supermarket, corner grocery, and gas station. This warm, paper-wrapped, ubiquitous food sells from dawn to dark and graces many, many tables valley wide. Early did I learn that any food becomes a 'taco' when wrapped in a tortilla.
But... what do you do with the leftover tortillas?
Easy. Make tortilla chips that can be used at the next meal for salsa, stored if need be, or served with eggs in the morning (cross reference migas and eggs for another leftover tortilla idea). They are easy to create, cost effective (much cheaper than bag chips), and much better for you.
1. Stack the remaining tortillas and with a very sharp knife cut into 6 to 8 wedges.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3. Divide stacks and lay them out on a single layer onto a cookie sheet. (Note: I use my all purpose, beater pans for this task, not my good pans that I use with parchment. There's a certain 'seasoned' quality to the old pans that adds to these homemade chips.)
4. Lightly season. Flavors to try: chili, garlic, onion, season salt, cinnamon sugar, or any other seasoning in your pantry.
5. Place in preheated oven. Set timer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, check tortillas every 60-90 seconds. The length of time to finish these chips will be determined by how many chips are in the oven at a time, freshness/staleness of the tortilla, moisture content of the masa used to make the tortilla.
The tortillas are done when the edges curl up, the surfaces and edges brown (but not burn), and the tortillas become crispy.
Enjoy!
