Homemade Flour Tortillas

I must apologize for being away for soooooooo long.  Working full-time, volunteering in my church playing piano, being with my wonderful boyfriend and our "children, while trying to keep up a blog and fend off illness and other disasters has proven difficult.  My plan is to try to do better because I certainly haven't stopped experimenting with recipes since April, I just haven't had time to post them!  I hope to clear that up over the next couple of weeks, since I have lots of pictures and lots of recipes that I've tried and loved and some I tried and didn't love as much :) I've spent a great deal of the last few months re-evaluating who I am and who I want in my life.  As anyone who as gone through this process, it takes up a lot of time.  I have come to realize that the people you expect to be there, won't always be there and the one's you didn't count on will pull-through in a big way.  I've struggled with many issues through my 28 years, most happening while I was a child and some since college.  After all this time, I've come to terms with the reality and faced-up to the disappoint that the problems I had with some people will never change.  They will never see the situation from another's perspective and it is time I dealt with the hurt of all of that.  I realize I am getting deep in this blog, esepcially when it's titlted - "Homemade Tortillas Recipe".  However, I wanted to explain my abscence and while I've sat down to write a blog several times, something has happened and my focus had to be shifted to that situation.  I don't have many followers on this blog, but to whomever does follow me, my apologies for the hiatus, I had an "emotional" breakdown of sorts and could only handle so much! :) On to the recipe...

Since moving out on my own, I have always loved making tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc, but hate paying for tortillas - especially now as the price climbs and climbs.  I never found a recipe that was simple and could be made quickly, until this one.  It comes from Taste of Home and it doesn't get any easier than this:

Recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c water
3 tbsp Olive Oil

I told you this was simple :)

Start by combining the flour and salt in a large bowl.  Stir in the water and the oil. 

Next roll out the dough on a floured surface and knead 10-12 times.  You may need to add some flour or water to smooth out the dough.  Divide dough in equal portions, I got 10 - the recipes says you'll get 8 :)

Now take each ball of dough and roll out to make your tortilla.  Do not worry about them looking like a circle, they still eat the same :)

As you can see, mine are not round, more oval.  Some were even more oddly shaped, gives them character.

Now, heat a large non-stick skillet and once heated spray with cooking spray.  Add a tortilla and let cook until bubbles start to form.  Depending on your stove this may take a little time.  The trick is to let the pan get hot, spray with cooking spray (not a lot) and then set the tortilla in.  Once it starts to bubble, turn over and let cook on the other side - watching for more bubbling.  You can check them to see how they are doing, the preference is all yours on how brown to make them.  Once done, place on a plate and cover and repeat with each dough ball

Viola! Now fill them with whatever you desire and enjoy!

I get messy when working with flour ;)


Enjoy and let me know your fun stories when making these delicious treats!

The best part about these is you can double, triple, etc the recipe and freeze the leftovers for use later!  Freezer friendly is always a plus in my eyes!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cupcakes

Today's recipe is one I have done in the past and is one of my all-time favorites.  The flavor in these cupcakes is unbelievable!  I first made them for my family back in Pennsylvania when we went to visit in September.  They had always seen pictures of things I made, but had never had a chance to try it.  I decided to make them something special when I cam home. 

I had just found this recipe from the blog Hoosier Homemade just before going back to PA.  I had chosen this particular recipe because I vaguely remember my mom loving chocolate covered cherries and these incorporates all that and then some. 

My first round making them was a little rocky, but they turned out well. The second go round, what this blog is all about, was much easier.  I learned from my mistakes from before and have new ideas lined up for next time I make these.  I live by the thought that everything can be improved in some way.  Nothing in life is perfect and that's how it should be.

I was asked by a colleague to make these for her birthday potluck. Since I can very rarely take in cupcakes to work since everyone is on a diet, I jumped on the idea :)

I do have to say that after making the White Chocolate Easter Basket, these were a piece of cake :)

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cupcakes

Ingredients for the cupcakes
1 box cake mix - I used butter flavor
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 can cherry pie filling

Mix cake mix with pudding, buttermilk, eggs and oil with a blender. 

Once blended, fold in cherry pie filling.

Divide batter into cupcake liners.  I used a 1/4 measuring cup to fill each one.  It made 30 cupackes.

Place in oven at temperature and time as notated on your cake mix box. Once cupackes are done, let me sit in the pan for 10 min and then transfer from pan to cooling rack. They will sink a little in the middle as they cool, it's normal do to the cherry pie filling in them.

Ingredients for Ganche
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Place chocolate chips in a bowl and cream in a pan to boil.  Watch the pan closely so the cream doesn't boil over.  Once it gets to boil it will rise quickly in the pan. 

Pour cream over chocolate chips.

Stir until well blended and let stand for 5 minutes.

Turn cupcakes upside down and dip in ganache mixture and place in container that you are storing them in. Place in fridge to set.

Ingredients for Cherry Cream Frosting
1 stick butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese
2-3 teaspoons of cherry juice
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese.  Then add cherry juice and powdered sugar.  Add as little or as much cherry juice and powdered sugar as you like, it all depends on how thick/thin you would like your frosting.  I used 2 tsps cherry juice and 2 cups powdered sugar.  Pipe frosting on top of each cupcake - I placed mine in a Ziploc bag and cut a hole in the corner and piped it on. 

Ingredients for Chocolate Covered Cherry

Maraschino Cherries w/stems - mine are w/o because I bought the wrong kind

Chocolate wafers for melting

Rinse and pat dry cherries.

Melt chocolate in the microwave on defrost for 30 sec intervals until melted.  Keep a close eye on the chocolate so it doesn't burn.  Dip cherries and place on wax paper to set.  Once set, put one cherry on each cupcake.

Viola!  You now have delicious cupcakes to enjoy, eat quickly becaus they will go fast :) 

White Chocolate Easter Basket

I have tried a lot of different recipes in my life, but this by far was the hardest thing I have ever tried.  It all has to do with the face that the recipe I had was very vague and just gave the bare-backbone about what to do.  I am  going to give a lot more detail and I hope this will be easier for everyone else out there to do, then it was for me.  I am going to post about everything I did, even the trial and error things.  The way we learn in cooking, or at least the way I learn, is through trial and error.  I had a lot of wiggle room on this recipe and a few times when I tried one idea, it did not work.  The best I can tell everyone out there, is to try what I've done and if something easier pops into your head give it a try...

Ingredients:

      Chocolate Clay
       20 oz white candy coating, coarsely chopped
       2/3 cup light corn syrup

     Basket
       10 oz white candy coating, coarsely chopped
       13 pretzel sticks (3 inches)

     Round plastic cover (about 4 1/2 inches in diameter)

     Thin wire headband or 1 piece 1/8-inch-thick wire (about 15 inches long) - optional

     Thin ribbon, optional

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 20 oz candy coating (I used melting chocolate pieces from Hobby Lobby).  Heat on defrost in 30 sec intervals until chocolate is melted.  Stir until melted.  Be sure to watch not to overcook the chocolate.  Take your time on this step. 

Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the corn syrup, just until blended. 

Then spread the mixture onto a cook sheet that is lined with wax paper until it is about 3/8-in thick (about a 16-in x 8-in rectangle).  I used a spatula to spread the mixture.  It will be sticking so do this as quickly as possible.

Once the mixture is spread out, let it set at room temperature, uncovered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours, wrap the cookie sheet with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature over night.  I let mine sit for 2 days because I ended up being very busy this weekend.

When you are ready to build the rest of the Easter basket, melt 10 oz candy coating - again do this on defrost for 30 sec at a time.  Watch carefully so the chocolate doesn't overcook.  While the candy is melting, taken 7 full pretzel rods and cut them into 3-in pieces. 

Once the chocolate is melted, place the pretzel rods in the melted chocolate one at a time.  Using a fork, push the rod around in the melted chocolate until it is fully coated.  Pick each piece up with the fork and allow it to drip off some of the excess chocolate.  Then place on a cookie sheet that has a cooling rack set on it.  The cooling rack will help the chocolate drip off the pretzel rods, but not effect the end result.

Place the cookie sheet in the fridge for 10 min.  Be very careful when taking the pretzel rods off the cooling rack, they may have set into the wire.  My boyfriend got them off for me, since he was helping out with this and he used very little pressure.  Some of the chocolate may come off, but don't worry about it the chocolate ropes will cover it later.  Save the remaining melted chocolate for later.

Now here is where I started having some issues.  You need to get 1 1/2 qt bowl and line it with two damp paper towels.  Then place a plastic cover, the recipes wording not mine, on top of the paper towel.  As I said early, a lot was left to imagination in this recipe from here on out.  I used what I had on hand and had some difficulties - basically I used plastic lids.  First, I used a lid that was deep and while the chocolate set nicely, it wouldn't come out of the lid.  So I broke the chocolate off and re-melted it.  Then I tried a shallow lid and it worked a little better but the chocolate still wouldn't release from the lid.  Finally, I used the same shallow lid, but lined it with wax paper that I taped down.

Now, I have skipped some steps above, so let me back track.  Place the plastic lid on the paper towels to hold it in place.  Then take and place the pretzel rods around the outer edge of the lid, resting the other end against the side of the bowl to form the supports for the basket sides.   


Take the chocolate you set aside and pour it into the bowl with the lid and pretzel rods.  The recipe calls for 1/8-in deep, I just put enough in to cover the bottoms of the pretzels.  Use your best judgement.  Place the bowl in the fridge for at least 30 min, I had mine in overnight, which worked better.  Once set, the bowl should pop off the lid and wax paper, no problems :) Please learn from my mistakes.

It is time to work with the sheet of chocolate clay that has been sitting out on the cookie sheet.  Make a 1-in ball of clay and knead until pliable, but not sticky.  I measured mine out with a ruler and then cut them with a pizza cutter.  Roll each ball into a 1/4-in rope and start weaving the pieces through the pretzel rods. The important thing to note here are two things - if the chocolate ropes become sticky, roll back up into a ball and place in the fridge for a couple minutes.  Secondly, it doesn't matter how the ropes go on, just make sure they are seamless from one to the other.  Continue to weave until you reach the top of the pretzels. 

Once you've reached the top, roll 3 balls, about 3-in big and place on a plate, put in the freezer for 2 minutes.  The recipe doesn't tell you to do this and after the ropes got sticky, my boyfriend suggested putting it in the freezer to set back up and it worked wonderfully!  You need to make each ball into a 20-in rope.  Take a cookie sheet and line it with wax paper - roll each ball out into a rope on the cookie sheet.  Place the cookie sheet back in the freezer for 2  minutes.  Then very quickly braid the ropes together. 

You should have had some remaining melted chocolate, place a dab on top of each pretzel rod and place the braid over top. 

The final step was to create a handle, I skipped this step since I didn't have any wire to hold it. 

Now you should have one white chocolate Easter basket to fill with fake grass and lots of candy.  As I stated before, this was a trial and error process for me and I made lots of mistakes.  I hope I provided enough clarification so that if you try this recipe, you will have an easier time. 

It sure has been a busy weekend and I am very grateful to my boyfriend Ben for all his help in my many cooking endeavors!  I couldn't have done it without him!  I hope you all have a terrific weekend!  Here's to a brand new week!