My step grandmother always called them tor-till-a chips, with the second syllable rhyming with hill. She lived in Missouri, but was born, and lived for the first half of her life in Germany. She was rather persnickety, and very set in her ways. When I was a child, my mother and I flew out to Missouri one summer for a visit. She rented me a stack of Ramona video tapes from the library, and tried to fill her house with kid-friendly snacks– like tor-till-a chips. As Hedy was showing me the snacks she said, “And here, I bought you some tor-till-a chips.” I looked at her inquisitively and said, “You mean tor-tee-ya chips, right?” But it made no difference. Her house, her pronunciation.

Over the next week, I made a big deal whenever I would go to kitchen cabinet to get a bowl of tor-tee-ya chips. And every time I did, my pronunciation would be met with Hedy’s pronunciation. We were having a tor-till-a/tor-tee-ya chip war. Needless to say, I lost the battle. (Which I probably should have, as Hedy saw it, I was a know-it-all kid from California.) And now, over twenty years later, I still hear her heavily accented German voice clucking tor-till-a, whenever I make tortilla chips.

This week, I had one of those large stacks of corn tortillas from the Mexican market leftover from a taco dinner and they were just waiting to be used. So I made chips. But as delicious as fried chips are, I didn’t want to stand over a vat of hot oil to fry up a snack– so I baked them. You know what, I think I may like them even better. The chips are sturdier, thicker, corn-ier– perfect for dipping in salsa, or making nachos with.

Here’s what I did: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take a stack of corn tortillas, and depending on size, slice them into six or eight wedges. Liberally paint a baking sheet with olive oil. Lay the wedges in a single layer on the sheet and paint the tops with more olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking process. The chips will begin to bubble and then turn brown. Cool on a rack.

These tortilla chips are easy and delicious, however you choose to pronounce them.