A Homemade Cheesy Gordita Crunch

Let’s all be real, some days you want the idea of Mexican food without the price of authentic Mexican food. Or maybe you just need comfort food for your exploration of the giggle bush on a Friday afternoon. Regardless of what brings you to a Taco Bell drive through window, we’ve all been there. The problem is we all know what it does to our guts, we all know the suffering we are about to bring down on ourselves. What if we could do it right? What if we could make it home, with some quality ingredients and then not hate ourselves later.

Well, here we are, with the classic, the king of the Taco Bell menu, the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Not just any though, we’re going to make these chicos malos completely from scratch, including the shells. That’s right bebé, 100% authentic replicated Mexican food. Here is what you’ll need. What? Is the Gordita Crunch not for you? How about the Crunch Wrap Supreme then?

Ingredients

Taco Beef

• 2 tBSP Olive Oil OR 1/8 c. butter

• 1 lbs. ground beef (pork or shredded chicken work too)

• 1 yellow onion, chopped

• 1/2 tomato

• 3 tsp chipotle chili powder

• 2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

• 1 tsp Garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

• 1/2 sp. oregano

• 1 tsp. salt

Tortillas

• 3 C all-purpose flour

• 1 C. warm water

• 1 TSP Salt

• 1 TSP baking powder

• 1/3 C. olive oil (no butter here)

For Hard Shells

• 2 cups of oil

• 8 soft tortilla

For Assembling

• 1 1/2 c. shredded jalapeno cheddar cheese

• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

• 1 tssp. onion powder

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp chili powder

• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese powder

• 8 Soft Taco Shells

• 8 hard taco shells

• 2 c. shredded romaine lettuce

• keep a hot sauce for serving, if your guests hate themselves

Instructions

Tortillas

1. In a bowl of your choosing, but that should be big enough to contain all of the ingredients, combine your flour, salt and baking powder. Mix these together. If you’re using a mixer maybe use a spoon here.

2. Pour in your water and oil, ensuring your stir so all the dry bits mix with the wet bits.

   1. If you’re using a mixer, turn the mixer on first, then slowly add the wet ingredients. Slowly, I know you’re tempted to dump them all in at once. Don’t. Low and slow is the name of the game, we want to make sure it all comes together nice, the dough has to be smooth. Nope, slow down that Kitchenaid.

3. Plop your big ol’ ball of dough on a counter that has a light dusting of flour. and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Say it with me “Hey Google, set a timer for 15 minutes”. Now don’t touch it until after that. But you have two hours tops, so go play a round of Halo first.

4. Left it alone long enough? Good, now we are going to divide the dough into 16 little tortilla balls. Once they are balls, roll each piece out into a circle. Does’’t have to be perfect, just close enough - they should be between 6 and 7 inches. Keep the rolling pin and your work area floured because these will stick to anything an everything.

5. Heat a pan with a low heat, and once it is hot and ready, we’re going to place a dough circle in that, waiting until the uncooked side bubbles just a bit, which should be about 45 seconds. Flip and cook the otherside for 15 second. Boom, you’re doing great. Just do that 15 more times.

6. Stack on a plate and get ready for round two, because half those bad boys are going to be made hard.

7. In that same pan we were using for making these, add in your oil to fry. You want about an inch of oil in the bottom.

8. Using tongue (do not use your fingers) place a tortilla in the oil. It should sizzle, we are going to cook for 15 seconds and then flip over and fold in half, keeping in place until the shell crisps. Should take about 15 seconds.

9. Place the hard shells on a paper towel, and sprinkle with a little salt while hot. Normally you want to use these quick, but we’ll be baking them soon enough.

Tacos

1. We’re going to be baking, so Preheat that oven to 400° Freedom units (205°C)

2. We wanna cook this beef up right, so toss your oil or butter in a skillet and set it simmering. She a sizzlin’? Add in the ground beef, onion and tomato. Or Chicken or pork, whatever you’re cooking up.

3. Cook it up - make sure to keep separating the meet until its browned. Should take about 5 minutes, or a little less if its too hot.

4. Time to get picante - spicy - adding in your chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and oregano. Incorporate and then add salt. Add about 2/3’s of a cup of water and simmer until the sauce is thick with at least two C’s. Once she’s looking good, take back as much of that heat as you can and keep it warm, like a canuck in Cancun.

5. We’re going to combine those spices in the list together and make sure they’re well mixed.

6. Remember all those tortillas we made? How can you forget they’re still in the way! Lay them out on two baking sheets and evenly sprinkle the jalapano cheese on them. Sprinkle some of the seasoning we made in step 5 over that cheese. Make like this for 3 minutes.

7. Take out the now baked soft tacos, and lay those hard shells to the centre, Press into the cheese. Bake once more for 2 minutes.

8. Fold the remaining cheesy side up over the hard shell, and press firmly into the cheese.

9. Now make like the white person you are inside, and begin to assemble your tacos to your loving desire. Legally I can’t tell you to use the lettuce here, but I recommend it. Cover in your cheddar cheese, and eat until full.