As Seen on TV

Yes, tortilla bowl molds work as advertised

Usually Husband and I aren’t the sort to fall for the extravagant claims of bombastic  (“It’s aMAY-zing!”) TV hawkers. (“But wait! There’s more”!) This item, however, was cute and practical enough to be worth the gamble. Well, I confess I’ve fallen prey to sales screamers before – ordered a 60’s music collection for Husband’s birthday – but it never came.

These arrived on the doorstep less than a week after ordering. Imagine the shock.

And they were perfect. Thin, deeply glazed shell molds that have thus far proven impervious to scratches and burns. I’ve used 6”, 8” and 10” tortillas to good effect, although the big ones tend to brown rather deeply on the edges. The 6” yellow corn shells are particularly good for holding breakfast fare. I like the garlic/herb ones for tuna or tossed salads. But for deep-dish Mexican, I go with the super-sized tomato/basil tortillas.

The colorful instruction book that comes with them says to bake from 5 – 7 minutes at 400˚, and up to 12 minutes for extra crispy 10” tortilla shells, but I find that all sizes are ready in only 5 minutes, even baking two at a time. As I said, the big ones tend to get too dark on the edges. Let cool 5 minutes in the mold after removing from the oven.

My first husband-approved taco bowl featured strips of marinated chicken. Today’s was seasoned lean ground chuck. Both were accompanied by the usual layers of onions, peppers, shredded lettuce, fresh tomatoes, shredded cheddar jack, frijoles, red and green salsas, jalapeños, cilantro, and avocado.  Oh, it was so pretty!

My finished product

Won’t they be fun at Super Bowl parties holding picante sauce or guacamole? Or baked with cinnamon to hold ice cream sundaes? I wonder if they would hold up under gazpacho.

Soon, I suppose, the novelty will wear off. As much fun as it is to use these things, it’s a heck of a lot of chopping, mincing, mashing, shredding, sautéing, slicing, simmering...