Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Crisps

Dear 7 year old Tracy,

I’m watching you. You’re sitting at Taco Bell with your brothers scarfing down cinnamon crisps. At your age, Taco Bell isn’t a scary place. You always order the Mexican Pizza and there’s only like 10 options on the menu. Today there’s a GAZILLION. You don’t even know about that crazy annoying Chihuahua yet! Consider yourself lucky. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this place as an adult. Your parents did the right thing and only took you out to fast food restaurants sparingly. You won’t understand how important that is until later on in your life but I promise it will be worth it. Sorry for the lecture. Apparently you’ve turned into one of THOSE adults. Have I lost you?

Let’s talk about those cinnamon crisps you like soo much! Taco Bell stopped making them. They went through dozens of incarnations, but never returned to what you are eating now. Don’t fret. The 31 year old version of you JUST made some. If I could go back in time and give you this recipe sooner, I would. Sorry-time travel isn’t a done deal yet.

These cinnamon sugar tortilla crisps are crunchy and ooooh so yummy! Your son Cooper LOVED them and your husband, Casey begged you to make some more. Yes, at 31 you will have a son and a husband. So that little M.A.S.H. game you played was wrong. You don’t live in a shack and you aren’t married to Joey McIntyre with 12 kids. Ok, get back to what you are doing. Enjoy your life and keep up the good work!

Love,

31 year old Tracy

p.s. I served some of these with Baked Mangoes & Blueberries. Don’t worry, you’ll learn to like mangoes!

This is all it takes. Butter, cinnamon sugar & flour tortillas.

Melt butter and put in a big bowl. Toss tortillas til well lubed. I ended up dipping each tortilla in.

Buttery hands don’t make for good picture taking. Trust me.

Look at your well lubed tortillas! They go on a baking sheet with parchment.

Sprinkle the cinnamon & sugar on both sides.

Into the oven they go….

Out they come! Hello stack of deliciousness!

I started with one…and ate soo many.

Damn you Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Crisps! I think I love you.

Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Crisps

(recipe adapted from Everyday Food)

4 flour tortillas, halved
3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Stack tortillas and cut in half. In a large bowl, toss tortilla halves with melted butter until well coated (I ended up dipping each tortilla half in the bowl of butter. It worked much better). In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place tortillas on a large (or two small) rimmed baking sheet; sprinkle both sides with cinnamon-sugar mixture, and arrange in a single layer. Place in oven , and bake until golden and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool.

Lan September 3, 2010

My mom used to do this with the leftover pie dough…. I always liked them better than the pie. ssshhh. : )

Reply
- Tracy September 3, 2010
  
  the best part of pie is the crust!!!
  
  Reply
- Heather September 28, 2010
  
  My girls make me make a double pie crust recipe just so everyone can have the ‘cinnamon pie’. I comply because it never seemed like there was enough when my mom used up the scraps to make hers when I was younger. Great memories….
  
  Reply
Janet September 3, 2010

But do you drive a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Maserati?? 😉 Gotta love MASH.

These look so delicious! Must buy tortillas.

Reply
- Tracy September 3, 2010
  
  HAHAHA! I knew I was missing SOMETHING!!!
  
  Reply
P September 3, 2010

Those look scrumptious. And M.A.S.H. definitely lied… to the both of us. I was supposed to marry Joey McIntyre and live in a shack, too. But we were only having 8 kids.

Reply
stacy September 3, 2010

ha! Okay, I really want to make these. And I am dying at the MASH reference! I just laughed out loud in my “cube” at work like an idiot. Thanks for the memories 🙂

Reply
Justine September 3, 2010

Oh i love cinnamon sugar everything, donuts, pretzels, toast and now I can add tortillas to my repertoire! Thanks !

Reply
Katrina September 4, 2010

I used to love those taco bell cinnamon crisps too! And have had to do without sadly. Thanks for the recipe, these will be sooo tasty, and will bring back a ton of memories.

Reply
Carolina September 4, 2010

oooohh, the game of M.A.S.H! Brings back fun memories! But glad it didn’t turn out to be true! Love your blog! What lens do I see you shooting with? If you don’t mind me asking!?

Reply
Monster Jen September 5, 2010

I made these last night, and boy oh boy were they delicious! I had a mild love affair with taco bell in my younger years, but after finding a hunk of chicken in my bean burrito one day in middle school (after becoming a vegetarian) I vowed to never ate there again! Not a bad move!

I just discovered your blog via Freckle Wonder! It was late at night when I clicked on the link and though I had already eaten a full dinner, brushed my teeth and tucked myself in bed, just looking at the pictures and recipes made me so hungry I got out of bed and hit the kitchen for a midnight snack! The very next day I bought some potatoes and made the Salt and Vinegar Potato salad! YUM! So glad I found your blog! Everything looks great and I can’t wait to try more of the recipes!

Reply
Laura September 5, 2010

I can’t wait to try this! Taco Bell never should have switched to those cinnamon twist things. I don’t think the franchise ever truly recovered! 😉

Reply
- Tracy September 6, 2010
  
  truly truly truly!
  
  Reply
Tone September 6, 2010

This was so sweet! And I’m not even talking about the tortillas. I love it when people write letters to their younger selves. I wish they could be delivered somehow. Mostly, I’d tell myself not to worry. But sometimes I’d say: Yes, yes, love them NOW, with all your heart, and savour it.

Reply
- Tracy September 6, 2010
  
  I KNOOOOOOOOW!!! I’d tell myself to cut bangs in high school. I too would tell myself not to worry and to be proud of who I am. SAVOUR IT ALL.
  
  Reply
Lacey September 6, 2010

Can’t wait to make these! They were always my fav at Taco Bell too 🙂

Reply
Joseph's Grainery September 7, 2010

We’ve been scarfing down a similar version for a few months now. Anytime we have something, anything semi-mexican to eat, we find it an excellent excuse to make these!

Reply
Baked Mangoes & Blueberries › shutterbean September 7, 2010

[…] that you've learned how to make Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Crisps, it's time to do something with them! I probably know better than anyone they do just fine on […]

Reply
Jen Violi September 8, 2010

LOVE this letter (your writing voice is so engaging!) and the recipe and your other recipes. I made the peanut butter bacon cookies and had them for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Musical viewing party, and the cookies were much beloved. PB&B totally goes with vampire slaying. I’ll have to figure out what cinammon sugar tortilla crisps go with–maybe Arrested Development? All in all, what I’m saying is you rock! Thank you . . .

Reply
- Tracy September 9, 2010
  
  THANKS Jen!!! Tortilla Crisps would be EXCELLENT with Arrested Development. I’d chow down whenever Tobias is in his cutoff shorts 😉
  
  Reply
  - Jen Violi September 9, 2010
    
    EEEK! Those cutoffs . . . please tell me you’ll forever forward refer to these as Funke’s Favorite Nearly Nude Tortilla Crisps.
    
    Reply
Amanda September 14, 2010

Hey Tracy — I was thinking about making these to bring to a party; do you think they will store/travel well (i.e., stay crisp)? Or are they really best straight from the oven? i was hoping to make them in the morning for an afternoon get-together. Thanks! Can’t wait to try them!

Reply
- Tracy September 14, 2010
  
  I’d try to make them as close to the party as possible- but they’ll last for sure!
  
  Reply
Nadia October 24, 2010

I made these last night (@ 12:30 to be exact) and they were wonderful!
I cut them down into smaller triangles so i could pack them along with me in the morning and they held over well.

I really love your recipes, and i’m excited to try out more in the future! 🙂

Reply
- Nadia October 24, 2010
  
  Also, i put some cream cheese on one of them and it they went really well together. I think they’d also taste great in some vanilla ice cream.
  
  Reply
Cooking with Shutterbean :: SNNNAAAAAACCCKKS! – Modern Kiddo January 27, 2011

[…] butter, bananas & honey on top of a rice cakes! Great for breakfast too! Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Crisps! Watch out, they’re addictive. Trust me. Make your own Trail Mix for on the go! […]

Reply
Anneisa Davis December 7, 2011

I am in the process of mkaing them right now and it look just sooooo yummy

Reply
Tara April 18, 2012

Totally reminded me of cinnamon toast crunch cereal, but slightly Mexican!

Reply
- Tracy April 18, 2012
  
  Yeah! I can totally see that.
  
  Reply
msk November 14, 2012

Thanks for the recipe! I would call Taco Bell headquarters a couple times over the years to try to get them to bring these back, but to no avail..I don’t know why it just struck me to look up the recipe online…Goodbye Taco Bell forever. P.S. Why is their food so bad now? Would have an enchirito back in the day with a pepsi and cinnamon crispas..was so good, but alas no more. Got the stuff making them tomorrow.:)

Reply
Iliana February 3, 2013

We have this in Mexico and is actually called “Buñuelos”, the way my mom makes them is putting some oil on a big pan, just a tiny bit and then once is hot you put the tortilla without folding fry it for a couple seconds and then turn it. After both sides are done you take it out and sprinkle it with he mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Reply
- Tracy February 3, 2013
  
  I’ll have to do that for Cooper. Sounds awesome.
  
  Reply
Heather November 8, 2013

I make these for my family, except we cut them into chip sizes pieces and eat them with fruity salsas (mango & pineapple salsa is my favotire with these). They are sooo good, and sooo easy, I can never get enough and the whole family always asks for more. Served it to company before to, makes a great appetizer w/the fruity salsa

Reply
sandi February 1, 2014

use heart shaped cookie cutters to shape your crisps for valentine’s day

Reply
- Tracy February 11, 2014
  
  love that idea! thanks 🙂
  
  Reply
Heart Shaped Cinnamon Tortilla Chips – Shutterbean February 12, 2014

[…] got a comment the other day from a SUPER old post saying that I should make these Cinnamon Tortilla Chips heart shaped for Valentine’s Day. Comment noted. Action COMPLETED. I love my readers (thanks […]

Reply