As if living in New York City isn’t tough enough, now we’ve been hit by a shortage of Cheetos and other Frito-Lay snacks in bodegas. I like a good corn chip now and then, but the crunchy Cheeto is my go-to Frito-Lay snack. Thankfully the shortage hasn’t hit Queens, but if you’ve been affected and simply must have your crunchy Cheetos, you might want to watch this instructional video from pastry chef Claire Saffitz, senior food editor at Bon Appetit. “Is this what I’ve been missing the last 25 years of my life,” she says while sampling her first ever Cheeto. Three days later she achieves Cheetodom with a product that a test kitchen colleague calls “almost too classy to be a Cheeto.”
Saffitz even provides a recipe. All you need to make your very own Cheetos are a food processor, fat fryer, dehydrator, a $500 Vitamix blender, and some tapioca maltodextrin. By the time you procure all the equipment the great Cheeto shortage of 2018 will be over and you’ll have your very own test kitchen!