The Homemade Crunch Wrap Supreme
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.
Was the Gordita Crunch not it for you? That’s fair, hard shell tacos are an acquired taste, like Jazz, or cream of wheat. So instead we are going to make a dinner fit for a King. Or maybe like… a Viscount? Regardless, we’re going to be making the next best thing offered by Taco Bell, and that’s the Crunch Wrap Supreme.
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
4 12” Soft Taco Shells
4 6: Hard taco disks
2 c. shredded romaine lettuce
keep a hot sauce for serving, if your guests hate themselves
Instructions
Tortillas
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.
Pour in your water and oil, ensuring your stir so all the dry bits mix with the wet bits.
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.
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.
Left it alone long enough? Good, now we are going to divide the dough into 4 little tortilla balls and 4 big balls. Once they are balls, roll each piece out into a circle. Does’’t have to be perfect, just close enough - the small ones should be between 6 and 7 inches, with the big boys coming in at closer to 12”. Keep the rolling pin and your work area floured because these will stick to anything and everything.
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 other side for 15 second. Boom, you’re doing great. Just do that 15 more times.
Stack on a plate and get ready for round two, because those smol bois are going to be made hard.
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.
Using tongs (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, keeping in place until the shell crisps. Should take about 15 seconds.
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.
Crunch Wraps
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.
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.
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.
We’re going to place on of the large 12” tortillas on a plate or prep centre. Place the ground beef in the centre, topping with our cheese blend, and then top with one of the hard taco disks (or tostada).
Spread sour cream in an even layer over the tostada, top with lettuce, some tomato and more cheese.
We’re not going to wrap it up, folding the edges up and over the centre. Keep it tight (homeslice) and work your way around.
Drain the oil we used to make the tortillas, leaving a little oil in it. Place our wraps, seam-side down, and cook until they’re a golden brown (2ish minutes), and flip to repeat on the other side.
Plate, cut, and enjoy.
