Tortilla Talk (And a 2nd Flour Tortilla Recipe)

So, I've seen a lot of (identical) recipes floating around the Internet lately that advertise themselves as "fresh tortillas just like Cafe Rio!" I admit, this bugs me every time, because friends—that recipe is NOT anything like the tortillas you will get at Cafe Rio, or any other similar restaurant. Here's why:

The most popular online recipe for flour tortillas calls for four cups of flour and two teaspoons of baking powder. Years ago, when I started making my own tortillas (before I even got married), I tried this recipe. And what I ended up with was a number of rounds of big, puffy flatbread. Even when I rolled them out as hard as I could, the amount of baking powder in the recipe was so large that it caused the tortillas to puff up into something more like Indian naan than Mexican tortillas.

Eventually, after some playing around with the proportions, I adapted that ubiquitous recipe in the flour tortilla recipe that I shared on this blog. My main change was to dramatically decrease the baking powder to just under 1/2 teaspoon. Still, if I let the tortillas sit too long they were apt to get too thick, and because of the baking powder in the recipe and the way it interacted with the dough I couldn't use my tortilla press to smash them—which meant that making flour tortillas was a time-consuming and laborious process involving liberal use of the rolling pin.

And, as much as I loved my tortillas, they weren't like the ones I'd had at Cafe Rio. There was something different about them that I couldn't put my finger on. Earlier this year, when I was in North Carolina, I went to a Relief Society activity where a dear friend gave a demonstration on making fresh tortillas. When I tasted hers, I realized that they were much more texturally similar to the Cafe Rio tortillas I remembered eating. And she made hers using a tortilla press! Once I saw her recipe, I realized the difference—there was no baking powder at all!

Intrigued, I started some more experimenting. At first, I took my own favorite recipe and adapted it so that it didn't use any baking powder, but did involve a dough resting time of 30 minutes (as my friend's recipe instructed). It turned out great, and worked terrifically in my tortilla press (cutting down on the inconvenience factor a LOT!). Then one night, I was impatient and didn't want to wait for my tortilla dough to rest. So I went ahead and made the tortillas without any resting time. And guess what? They turned out perfectly! (The only difference between a resting time and no resting time was that the ones that didn't rest had a little less developed gluten in the dough, which meant that they were a tiny bit more prone to breaking before they were cooked and didn't stretch as well.)

Now, at least once a week we make flour tortillas using this new-and-improved recipe. And yes, friends, this is VERY similar to what they use at Cafe Rio. So don't believe that one going around on Pinterest! THIS is the recipe you want.

(Also, a troubleshooting tip: Tortillas need to cook at a relatively low heat for a longer time. If your tortillas—flour or corn—are breaking or crumbling, it's because you cooked them too hot. I usually set my griddle between 300 and 325.)

One of these days, I'll actually post my corn tortilla recipe too....

Cindy's Flour Tortillas, Version 2.0

4 cups flour (I typically 75%-100% whole wheat)

2 t salt

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/4-1 1/2 cups hot water

Heat pan or griddle to 325-ish (do not grease). In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Stir in canola oil. Add water gradually (I usually start with 1 cup, mix, and then add the water about 1/4 cup at a time after that) until dough is moist and holds together without being sticky. Knead with hands for a minute, then divide into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball or smaller. (Your dough balls can be bigger if you are rolling out by hand and not using a tortilla press.) In a tortilla press lined with a sliced-open plastic bag (to prevent sticking), press balls twice (I usually press, pick up the tortilla, flip it over, and press again). Cook tortillas 3-5 minutes on each side. Fill with your favorite taco or fajita fillings.

Healthy Golden Cornbread

Prep Time: Easy

Source: Adapted from Martha White Golden Cornbread recipe

I adapted my favorite cornbread recipe so that it is 100% whole grain (cornmeal and wheat flour) and sweetened with honey instead of white sugar. We love to eat this cornbread with whipped honey butter.

2 eggs

1 cup milk or buttermilk (I use regular milk with about a teaspoon of lemon juice to sour it)

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 cups corn meal

1 cup wheat flour

2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 400º F. Grease 8 or 9 inch square or round pan (I like to use my smallest springform pan; muffin cups can also be used). In large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into greased pan. Bake for 20-25 min or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. For muffins, bake 15-20 minutes.

Whipped Honey Butter

Prep time: Easy

Growing up, my family often made honey butter by mixing the two together. The result was delicious, but more like honey than butter. When I went to college I discovered whipped honey butter in a local restaurant—a product that tasted like honey, but had the creamy, light, melt-in-your-mouth texture of whipped butter. I though I had died and gone to heaven! A few years ago, Mahon and I decided to try to make our own whipped honey butter. All the recipes I found online had powdered sugar, and since we were going for a healthy product and not something that was artificially sweetened, we didn't want to add that. So we played around on our own, and perfected this sweet treat! It is delicious on bread, scones, cornbread, or just about anything else you can think of. The basic recipe—butter, honey, and a dash of vanilla—is divine, but you can also add in other flavorings. We recently did cinnamon honey butter and orange zest honey butter, and they were both amazing!

1/2 stick butter, room temperature

1/4 cup raw (hard) honey or about 1/8 cup liquid honey

1/8 teaspoon vanilla

Cinnamon, orange zest, or other flavoring (if desired)

In a bowl big enough to accomodate a hand mixer, add all ingredients together. (If using hard raw honey, don't melt it, but do be sure to use softened butter.) With a hand mixer on medium speed, blend ingredients for a few minutes until they are light and hold their shape (like soft whipped cream). If the honey butter is too runny, add a little more (room temperature) butter; if the flavor is too buttery and not strong enough, add honey a little bit at a time until desired flavor is reached. Stores well for a day or two, covered at room temperature, or for about a week in the fridge. If refrigerating, let it soften at room temperature for at least half an hour before using.

"Butter" Beans

Prep time: Very easy

If you know me much at all, you probably have figured out that one of my passions is healthy eating. One of the biggest roadblocks a lot of people seem to run into when it comes to eating healthy is vegetables—America's least favorite food group! In all honesty, I've always LOVED most veggies (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and veggies comprise some of the favorite foods in the Baldwin household.

What I've learned about making good veggies, though, is that it really matters how they were cooked. I want to start highlighting some of our favorite side dishes and the way that we prepare them here. Hopefully you will love them as much as we do!

One side dish we have a few times a month is "butter" beans (baby lima beans). My mom's grandpa had a farm in South Carolina, and I LOVED when we would have fresh lima beans from his garden with plenty of butter. A year or two ago, I started buying frozen baby lima beans at the store and playing around with cooking them until I hit on something that tasted as good as my memories. Most people will say they don't like lima beans, and I think it's because the way a lot of people prepare them, they are very dry and tasteless. These, on the other hand, are rich, creamy, buttery, and delicious! Because lima beans are legumes, they are very high in both protein and fiber (as well as other beneficial nutrients). I usually serve lima beans if we are having a meal that doesn't have meat in it, like a meatless pasta dish or baked potatoes. The protein in the limas makes for a very filling, satisfying meal, and the combination of protein, fiber, and slow-acting carbs in the beans help stabilize your bloodsugar as well.

Frozen lima beans (for a side dish, I usually do 1/4 to a 1/2 cup serving per person)

Water to cook

Salt and pepper

Butter (I typically do about 1/4 to 1/2 a tablespoon per serving)*

Pour lima beans into a small saucepan and add water until the water covers the beans by about 1/2 an inch. Add a generous shake of salt and pepper. Heat on medium high just until the water starts boiling, then turn to medium-low and put a lid on the pot. Let cook for 20-30 minutes (check it periodically to make sure the water has not boiled away), or until lima beans are soft and their skins are just starting to split. Turn off the stove, strain beans in a colander and then return them to the hot pot. Add butter and stir the beans until butter has melted. Serve immediately, with extra salt if desired.

*If you're worried about using butter in this dish, I highly recommend reading this article. It may surprise you, but butter eaten in moderation is actually really good for you!

Chicken Pot Pie Crumble

Source: Adapted from MelsKitchenCafe.com

This is, hands-down, my favorite chicken pot pie iteration we have ever had—and also one of the easiest and healthiest! I changed up the original recipe a little bit; I halved it so that it was more suited to two people rather than a whole family, and I also replaced about half of the called-for chicken with potatoes instead (because I didn't have enough chicken, and as Mahon says—what kind of fool makes chicken pot pie without potatoes, anyway?). I'm including the original proportions of the recipe here, but with my other alterations. Like any chicken pot pie, this really could be done with any veggies you have on hand.

For filling:

3-4 potatoes, peeled and diced

About 1 1/2 chicken breasts, boiled and chopped or shredded (I actually used leftover rotisserie chicken!)

Olive oil for sauteeing

1 cup chopped onion (about half of a large one, or a whole medium one)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 or 4 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks diced celery

3/4 cup frozen peas or corn (or half of each)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 stick butter

1/2 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk

For topping:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or chili powder, if you happen to have used all the cayenne on your garden to keep away neighborhood cats... long story!)

6 tablespooons chilled (and sliced) or room temperature butter

3/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese

1 cup heavy cream (you can sub some of this for regular milk)

In a medium saucepan with just enough water to cover the potatoes, boil potatoes until they are almost (but not quite) ready to eat. While potatoes are boiling, prepare other vegetables. Once everything is ready, preheat oven to 400. Sautee all veggies together in a large skillet or medium saucepan with olive oil, about five minutes (or until the veggies are beginning to brown). 

While veggies are cooking, get started on the crumble topping. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne/chili powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with pastry cutter or fork. Stir in parmesan cheese. Add cream/milk and stir until just combined.

Once the veggies are done cooking, remove and put into a casserole dish, along with the chicken. In the same large pan you used to sautee the veggies, melt butter. Add flour and stir to combine, then add broth. Stir until everything is smooth. Add milk, salt, and pepper, and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sauce begins to thicken. Stir sauce into casserole dish with veggies and chicken.

Break topping dough apart with your fingers and sprinkle as evenly as possible over top of casserole. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, or until topping is browned. Serve immediately. Try not to eat the whole thing.

Honey Hot Chocolate

As with the past few years, I gave up sugar for Lent again this year. {Although going to the hospital sort of killed it for 2 weeks.} I tried something this time that I hadn't tried before—hot chocolate made with honey. I guess I'd always assumed it would have too much of a "honey" flavor... but boy, was I wrong! This stuff. Is. Amazing. In all honesty, I like it better than regular hot chocolate. One day while at the hospital I sat sipping a Starbucks hot chocolate from the lobby and all I could think was, "Hmm, this is good... but not as good as that honey hot chocolate I've been making!"

Because everyone has their own individual tastes, this is a very loose recipe. Feel free to change up the ratios of honey and cocoa to make a sweeter or more bitter hot cocoa. The exact recipe I'm providing tends to make a rich, very dark cocoa; you might want to add in a little more honey to taste if you like yours sweeter. You can also do water instead of milk, but I'll just warn you... it's nowhere near as good!

For one serving 

(you can double this recipe as many times as you like to get a bigger batch):

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon cocoa powder*

1 tablespoon honey*

1/4 tsp vanilla
Other additives as desired

*A note on proportions: The cocoa and honey are really "to taste." I like mine very dark and rich, so I usually use more like 1.5 teaspoons honey and a heaping tablespoon of cocoa. Mahon likes his sweet, so I do a scant tablespoon of cocoa and a tablespoon of honey.

Stovetop: Combine milk, honey, and cocoa in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat. (It's best to mix them with a whisk to make sure the cocoa doesn't clump.) If using raw honey, you'll want to add that to the milk first and let it melt before adding the cocoa. Once the desired temperature is reached, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Don't boil the milk.

Microwave: In a microwave-safe mug (for one serving) or glass bowl or glass measure (for larger amounts), heat milk and honey together until desired temperature is reached (usually 1-2 minutes). I find it helpful to loosely cover my mug; it sort of "steams" the milk and prevents it from developing a skin. Remove from microwave (if you're using raw honey, make sure the honey is melted and integrated into the milk) and stir in cocoa and vanilla. Because the cocoa tends to clump, I find it is easiest to use a small whisk to combine everything.

You can also add anything else you would like—cinnamon is good (just make sure you add it at the same time as the cocoa so that it doesn't clump in the milk), as is a teaspoon of extra virgin coconut oil (and it's really healthy too!). The sky is the limit!

Oh, and if you're feeling particularly indulgent, add a little drizzle of heavy cream into your cup to cool it down! You will not regret it!

Last-Minute Wheat Bread

(Ok, so technically this is a picture of my 5-minute wheat bread—but we ate the
Last-Minute Loaf already!)

Prep Time: Easy

Do you ever find yourself needing a loaf of good bread, but without the time to let it rise? I came up with this recipe (based on several others) the other day when I was in just that situation. From start to finish it takes about an hour. This recipe yields one medium-sized loaf, but you could easily double or triple (or quintuple!) it for more. This recipe is so quick and easy you don't even need to make it in a mixer.

1 cup warm water

1 T yeast

1/2 T table salt

2 T canola oil

1 1/2 T honey

2 cups wheat flour

1/2-3/4 cups white flour

Egg white (beaten); any desired toppings

Mix all ingredients together in medium bowl (I just do it with my hands—the dough comes together quickly and easily). Knead dough a few times until it is elastic and holds together (should only take about 60 seconds). Grease medium loaf pan. Shape dough into loaf (my preferred method is to roll it out on the counter and then roll the sheet up into a loaf) and press into pan. Brush top with egg white and top with any desired seeds, oatmeal, etc. With serrated knife, make 3-4 slashes in top of loaf (a lot of the rising will happen quickly as the oven heats, so this helps your loaf keep a pleasing shape through that fast rising!). Allow to rest on warm countertop or in oven (turned off) for about 20 minutes. Without preheating the oven, place loaf into oven and set oven to 350. Cook for 45 minutes (this includes the preheat time). Cool on a wire rack.