Taco Shells

Right out of the oven.

For Tacos or Chalupas.

Continuing my Mexican food celebration, let’s move on to TACOS!  Of all the Mexican food I have tasted in my life, I still like tacos the best!  I  like to have them in the summertime particularly, because I don’t have to have the oven on long to make dinner.    Unfortunately, regular taco shells are too high in carbs for my diet regimen, so I developed a low-carb taco shell that are  somewhere between a cheesy pie crust, a cracker and a tortilla in texture.  Useful as a corn tortilla substitute for tacos, at least.   I found them perfect to have with a bowl of chili as well.

As you can see in the photo, they can be folded over nicely for a “taco shell” while still warm.  You can also use them flat for making chalupas!  They are ever so slightly chewy in the very center 1″(from the psyllium).   You could try browning them more for a crisper center, but be aware the edges are likely to over-brown and taste overdone accordingly.

There is just a hint of cheese taste in these.  Any more and I don’t think you could form this into a workable dough, quite frankly.  You can go down that road if you want to experiment.  FYI, cheddar is much harder to work into your dough than mozzarella in what is essentially a modification of the Fathead Pizza Dough recipe.  So if you increase cheese, my recommendation would be to increase the mozzarella and not the Cheddar.

These can also be fried, but they didn’t taste one bit better, were no crispier than the baked ones and were definitely they were greasier.  So my preference here is baked.  This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction Phase.

INGREDIENTS:

Perfect with a bowl of chili, too!

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

1 T. olive oil

1 egg, beaten

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. Carbquik

1 T. oat fiber

1½ tsp. psyllium husk powder (I use NOW brand)

We used a spoonful of this for our tacos! Yum!

Dash each onion and garlic powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper.  Place mozzarella and Cheddar shreds in a large glass or ceramic bowl and microwave on HI for about 2 minutes to thoroughly melt.  The key to success with this dough is to work quickly every step of the way, while the cheese is soft and pliable.  Remove bowl from microwave and quickly blot excess grease (from Cheddar) off the top with paper towels.  Stir quickly with a fork to blend together to blend.  Add the olive oil and stir again.  Add the dry ingredients and then beaten egg last.  Quickly stir to bring the wet cheese and flours to form a ball of dough, making sure to scrape all cheese/dough off the sides of the bowl as you do so.  Knead with your hand 5-6 times right in the bowl to be sure all ingredients are uniformly mixed.  When it is a smooth ball of dough, form a large log of the dough.  Divide the log in half.  Divide each half in half once again.  And finally, those pieces into halves making a total of eight (hopefully equal) balls of dough about 1½” round.  Roll and press onto your parchment-lined pan, pressing with the butt of your palm to about a 5″ circle (you want it very thin but not tearing anywhere).  Pop pans onto two racks in a 350º oven for about 7-10 minutes or until browned as shown above in the photo.  Remove from oven and allow to cool a few minutes.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 taco or chalupa shells,  each contains:

164 cals, 13g fat, 8.15g carbs, 4.92g fiber, 3.23g NET CARBS, 12g protein, 287 mg sodium