Month-of-Few Ingredients: Cheese Crisp, the Un-Quesadilla

Our sons have found that when they left Arizona for other states that they were unable to get a cheese crisp at any Mexican restaurant. People kept telling them they were asking for a quesadilla. No, they insisted, quesadillas are one food, and cheese crisps are another. Quesadillas are enclosed, and cheese crisps are open face. So, when they are visiting we always make a trip to Macayo’s for their “fix”.

The lack of cheese crisps anywhere else they lived (in a variety of states) was enough to make them wonder if they had imagined these delectable bites. Mama to the rescue! I researched cheese crisps and found that they are a food from the Sonora desert! Right. We are in the Sonora desert so Arizona has cheese crisps! Mystery solved. The bigger mystery is why these crunchy, gooey disks haven’t migrated to other regions of the country. Oh, well! Our little secret!

Back in the day, I used to put cheese and chilies on a flour tortilla and microwave it. Good melty cheese, but not even close to the texture. I’ve also put the cheesed and chile-d tortilla under the broiler. Those cheese crisps were okay.

After trying several recipes on the internet, I found this one by Simply Recipes to be easy and tasty. I did make a couple of modifications as I am wont to do. Okay, it’s not Macayo’s, but it’s the closest I’ve come to their cheese crisp.

Cheese Crisp (serves 2)

2 flour tortillas

2 tablespoons butter

1-1 ½ cups Mexican blend cheese

½ can diced green chilies (we use Macayo’s, of course)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread one tablespoon of butter on each tortilla, going all the way to the edge. Put the tortillas on a baking sheet (dark metal is best) and bake for 5-7 minutes until the top is light brown. Times are dependent on individual oven heating.

Remove the tortillas from the oven and put ½ to ¾ cup cheese on each one, depending upon how cheesy you like your crisps.

Divide the half can of chilies between the two tortillas. Bake for 2 minutes or until the cheese is gooey.

Eat immediately. Cheese crisps are not as tasty when they cool down.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up  Him: “We’ve had this before.” Me: “Right. But I wanted to make it again as a recipe for the Month-of-Few Ingredients.” Him: “Okay. Good. You know I like these.”

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A reminder:

House rules for what counts as an ingredient:

Salt and pepper are not ingredients.

Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.

Water is not an ingredient.