Fruit Tacos with Chocolate Tortillas

With Cinco de Mayo quickly approaching, my kitchen looks like a fiesta. (In good ways and bad). A fun weekend of vegan bake sales, gardening and a drive in movie has left the apartment in shambles.  But I won’t bore you with the details of my dirty dishes and ever growing laundry pile, that’s what my mum is for. How that woman tolerates my boring conversations I’ll never know. That’s love I guess.

My plan this week is to focus on fun and healthy recipes for Cinco de Mayo. In Texas, everyone has their own secret recipe for the festivities. Whether it be tacos, enchiladas or simply a killer margarita, people here know what they’re doing.

Being a Canadian, whose mother still refers to sangria as Shangrila, makes Latin food a little intimidating. Usually Greg is the one who takes care of taco night, while I sit back with a grumbling tummy and a frosty glass of tequila. So when I needed to come up with some recipes for Saturday, I turned to my resident Mexican chef.

Greg suggested a dessert taco, so while we drove to the Drive in theatre on Saturday we brainstormed ideas. He thought a chocolate tortilla would be fun to make and I added to the idea with a fresh tropical fruit salad filling.

Yesterday I stopped by my local Mexican grocer and stocked up on tropical fruit, cactus, and a lot of fun goodies. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve from our long drive to Ennis, but I wanted to start the week off with what Greg has named the Tropo Choco Taco.

What I love about this recipe is how easily adaptable it is. Most tortilla recipes call for lard, but I used coconut oil instead. This makes them a little healthier and also makes them vegan and vegetarian friendly. You could also make them gluten free by using coconut flour. The fruit combination is totally up to you. They would be great with a combination of seasonal berries or even peaches, pineapple or citrus fruit. I opted to top mine with some chocolate sauce and cashew cream, but I’ve added a list below the recipe of other toppings I’d like to try.

If you’re having a BBQ on Saturday, these fruit tacos would be a definite crowd pleaser. How fun would it be to have a dessert taco table with a stack of chocolate tortilla’s, bowls of fresh fruit and a buffet of toppings? These tacos are also healthy enough to eat for breakfast and would make a great Cinco de Mayo Brunch.

If you’re in Dallas there are a lot of fun activities going on in the city. My friend Danielle from Tacobots has organized the first annual Tacopalooza at Bryan Street Tavern. If you’re in the mood for some great tacos, live music and a lot of fun you should come out! You can find more details on the Tacobot facebook page. Will you be celebrating this Saturday?

Fruit Tacos with Chocolate Tortillas

Tortillas

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 4 tbsp. agave
• 1 ½ cups warm water

Fruit Salad

• ½ cup papaya, diced
• ½ cup mango, diced
• ½ cup blueberries
• ½ cup strawberries, diced
• ½ cup kiwi, diced
• juice from one lime

In a large bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Add coconut oil, agave and warm water and mix to form a large ball of dough.

Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes. Cut the dough in half, and continue to cut each ball of dough in half until you have 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Do not add oil to the skillet as the tortillas need to be cooked on a dry surface.

On a floured surface, roll the dough into 16 circles about ¼ inch thick and 6 inches in diameter. Once the skillet is hot, add one round of dough and cook for 30 seconds per side. Place the cooked tortillas on a plate lined with a damp paper towel.

Continue this process until all 16 tortilla’s have been cooked.

To prepare the tacos, layer the fruit on a tortilla and sprinkle with lime juice. You can serve it as is or add any toppings of your choice. If you need some topping inspiration, here’s what I came up with:

shredded coconut
cashew cream
crema mexicana
melted chocolate or chocolate sauce
fresh mint
ice cream, yogurt or coconut milk ice cream
white or dark chocolate chips
almonds, peanuts, pecans or any nut of your choice
coconut butter
honey, maple syrup or agave
bee pollen

Feel free to use any fruit of your choice. Peaches, pineapple, raspberries, oranges, pears, plums, apples, starfruit, and lychees would all work great as well. The possibilities are endless.

Store the tortilla’s in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days or store them in the freezer.

Yield 16 tacos