I know this is an odd choice to follow up the Cranberry Margaritas I just made, but it’s National Tortilla day and I had to. I’m sure this day is dedicated to the crunchy, salty treats we all love to dip into salsa or cover with toppings to make nachos. Mmmm! But I thought I’d try something a little different and actually make these Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips. They sound delicious and like a great way to use up extra tortillas—something I frequently have. Let’s give these sweet and crunchy treats a try!
Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips! These are a lovely sweet snack using very simple ingredients and incredibly easy to make. Perfect for parties and holidays.
The Ingredients
The list of ingredients was short and sweet (get it?). I had the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon on hand, but I had to buy a package of fresh tortillas. The size isn’t given so I went with a mid-range size. I’m not sure of the diameter, but I used a 10-pack of Mission Flour Tortillas in the soft taco size.
The Process
This recipe didn’t take long, but it did take me a bit longer than the 20 minutes listed. The cooking time was accurate, but the prep work took me much longer than 5 minutes. In the end, this is how my time was spent:
- 13 minutes to prep
- 15 minutes to cook
- 28 minutes total
I’m sure next time the prep work will go faster now that I have the technique for cutting the tortillas figured out. I also won’t take the time to lay them out in a single layer since that resulted in burnt chips. Let’s talk about it.
Prep Work
The prep work was simple and took me 13 minutes. I cut the tortillas 2 at a time so they wouldn’t slip. I began by simply cutting them into strips as shown below. The strips were quite long, so I cut them in half. Tip: You’ll need a large cutting board and a long, sharp knife to cut the strips. A dull knife will cause tearing.
The prep work concluded with melting the butter and mixing it into the tortillas with the cinnamon and sugar. I added about 1/3 of the tortilla strips to a mixing bowl with 1/3 of the butter, cinnamon, and sugar. I mixed thoroughly and repeated with another third until all the tortillas were coated. Tip: Use a very large mixing bowl so you have room to mix without making a mess. Mine was 6 quarts or 24 cups.
My First Try: Burnt tortillas
I had a lot of tortilla strips ready to bake at this point! So I lined 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and piled on the prepped tortillas. This is where things went wrong.
I got it into my head that the tortillas should be spread into a single layer so they could all crisp evenly. The instructions don’t specify this, but I did it anyway. I had a lot of tortilla strips, so I put 1/3 on each pan and popped both pans into the oven for 15 minutes (side by side on the middle rack, taking up the whole thing).
This was not the way to do it! I think placing the strips into a single layer in side-by-side pans caused them to burn by interfering with the air circulation inside the oven. The air under the pans was much hotter than the air above, so the strips were black on the bottom but looked okay on top. Only a few chips were edible. I was so disappointed!
My Second Try: Success!
I had some tortilla strips left, so I immediately gave it another try. This time I did what I should have and scattered them onto a parchment-covered sheet pan, making sure not to pile them too deep.
This method crowded the pan which created the steam needed to keep the chips from drying out too much. And the chips cooked evenly on top and bottom since there was only one sheet pan on the shelf this time.
I watched them carefully this time, and when there was no burning after 10 minutes I left them to bake for the full 15 minutes. The chips were still a little soft when I removed them from the oven. But just as the recipe said, they crisped right up as they cooled. Not as crisp as storebought, but crisp enough to crunch a bit.
In the end, I got my sweet, crunchy cinnamon treat as promised. I just wish I had the forethought to try making a cheesecake dip recipe this week too. The pairing would be so decadent!!
