Introduction: Despicable Me Tortilla Chip Sombrero Copycat

I'm pretty sure that almost everyone of us had two main thoughts after watching Despicable Me 2:
- I loved it!
- I need one of those nacho sombreros, and I need it now. 

Since finding a nacho sombrero in my local Mexican restaurant was harder than one would initially think, I decided to make one on my own! It came out pretty well, and it really tasted like tortilla chips! 

Step 1: Ingredients

For the sombrero in the picture, I used the following ingredients. You may change the quantities if you want a smaller/bigger one.

- 150g of wheat flour (1 1/3 cups)
- 600g of cornstarch or, even better, cornmeal (5 cups)
- 450 ml of water (1 pint)
- 225 gr of margarine (1 cup)
- 1/2 tbsp of salt
- Some oil to "paint" the sombrero before baking it.
- Salsa, guacamole, or your favorite dip!

You´ll also need something to make the sombrero shape. Newspapers and aluminum foil should do the trick.

Step 2: Make the Dough

Making tortilla chip dough is not much harder than, simply, mixing the needed ingredients. However, it is important to follow some steps, in order to get a nice, consistent dough that won´t break as easily while you make the sombrero shape.

First, put both, the wheat flour and the cornstarch (or cornmeal) in a big bowl, mix them and "dig" a hole in the middle.

Afterwards, put the margarine and the salt in the hole you just made. Make sure that the margarine is nor too cold. In fact, melting it a bit beforehand will make the mixing way easier.

Mix everything well, until the mixture gets sort of a sand-like texture. Then, once again, make a hole in the middle of it and slowly pour the water in it, while you knead the dough. Take your time. Adding the water too quickly may spoil the dough. Keep kneading until you get a nice, firm dough that doesn't stick to your hands.

Now you have your tortilla chip dough ready. It's time to give it sombrero shape!

Step 3: Make the Sombrero!

Before doing anything else, cover an oven tray with waxed paper. You are going to be building the sombrero on it, and you don´t want the dough to get stuck to the tray.

You'll need to figure out how to make the different parts of the sombrero in order to give shape to the dough.

To make the sombrero crown, I used a bowl and a small cake mold, and covered them with heavy duty aluminum foil. If you don´t happen to have a mold/bowl that fits your needs, you can make the whole thing with aluminum foil-covered newspapers.

Once you have the crown mold, cut a piece of waxed paper and cover it with a thin layer of dough. Then, cover the mold with it, paper included. This will make it easier to take it away after baking it. When you fix the wrinkles, make sure you don´t leave paper between dough layers.

Now, put the crown mold you just made on the paper-covered oven tray.

You can make the brim directly on the waxed paper. Surround the crown with a thin layer of dough. Make sure to thoroughly join it to the crown. You might want to make the brim a bit thicker, since it is going to be the part holding your dip.

Finally, to make the edge, surround the brim with a "wall" of aluminum foil (I made it using three layers of heavy duty aluminum foil) and cover the inner part of it with a thin layer of dough. Once again, make sure you join the edge with the brim.

Step 4: Baking

Preheat the oven at 400º F for 10-15 minutes.

While you wait, "paint" the sombrero with vegetable oil. Usually, tortilla chips are made deep-fried. Since it's hard to deep-fry something as big as this, painting it with oil will give it the crispy texture we want.

Once the oven is heated, put the sombrero in it and wait until the surface gets a bit brownish.

It might have some cracks, but don't worry, it is tougher than it looks!

Step 5: Wear Your Sombrero!

Wait until the sombrero cools down and take away the paper, aluminum foil and crown mold.

Fill the brim with salsa or guacamole.

Put the sombrero on your head, break a piece of the edge, dip it in the salsa and enjoy!

My sombrero is a bit too white because I used cornstarch. If you use cornmeal you'll get a nicer yellowish sombrero!

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