How to soften corn tortillas without a frying pan

Today's post is a quick and easy how-to that, while most likely not useful to you this week, is a nice thing to file away for the future.

I like to cook with corn tortillas, I think they are supremely yummy and rank higher in the deliciousness department than their floury brethern. Don't get me wrong, flour tortillas most definitely have their place and can be fabulous (especially when handmade and wrapped around pork barbacoa), but corn tortillas? I'm a fan.

Corn tortillas can be a giant pain to work with though -- if you use them straight from the bag, they crack and fall apart. Some people microwave them to soften them, but I think the most traditional way of softening corn tortillas is by frying them in a bit of oil for a few seconds. This way tastes wonderful - a big improvement over just microwaving them - but it makes an absolute mess of your kitchen, and it often causes intense bouts of guilt over the fat content in a 6-inch circle of corn. At least it does in my world.

Enter stage left my method. It still uses oil and has the delicious corn tortilla taste I love, but I think it must be healthier. Without consulting my boyfriend Alton Brown I can't be positive (that old episode about the science of frying bewildered me.) but I'm going to go with it, and say that it feels healthier than sticking a tortilla in a pool of oil.

Simply take corn tortillas and give each one a quick spray with cooking spray, both front and back, and lay on a pan. It's okay to overlap a bit, but don't stack 30 tortillas on a pan or anything like that. Give them some room to breathe, y'all.

(Again, I apologize for the horrid lighting in my kitchen. Making it cuter and and better lit is definitely on my to-do list, but in the meantime please take my word that having a skylight in your kitchen will not replace having real light fixtures... I have only 2 can lights and no task lights and it's really quite ridiculous.)

Stick the tortillas in a 325°F oven. Leave them there for 5-8 minutes, checking to make sure they aren't crisping up. Take out of the oven and use in your favorite recipe!

That's a photo of me showing you how floppy and soft and yummy-smelling these tortillas are.

Now you can enjoy a nice corn tortilla without having grease splatters all over your kitchen!