Making Mexican Tamales

After drooling over the mystery calorie tamales in the store for awhile, I bought a package of corn husks to attempt to make my own. Now I am bit clueless on how to do it! I looked up some recipes and watched a video, I learned about soaking the husks, steaming or simmering them, but I have a couple questions I hope someone here can answer.

1. What if I don't want to make a mass production? They have to be stood upright in a pot, so you need to make enough to fill it. How would I only make one or 2?

2. Can they be baked in the oven instead?

3. Are the husks edible or are they just used to wrap up your fillings for cooking?

Thank you in advance!

Yes, you can make just a couple - place them in a small pot, with a steamer basket inserted into it.  As long as your pot is small and the amount of water doesn't go above the steamer basket (and doesn't touch your tamales), you should be fine, even if they are lying down.  Usually they are made in large batches because they are so much work... it's not worth it making just two! 

The husks are not edible, they are just to wrap things tightly and impart a little more "nutty" like flavor.

I have never cooked them in the oven, but I doubt it would work because you need the moist heat to plump up the cornmeal.  While the oven works well for reheating them, since you need to cook the cornmeal inside, unless you were to place them into a double boiler in the oven (where there would be moist heat), they would come out too dry and maybe not cook thoroughly.  Considering that steaming them on the stovetop is so easy, I'd avoid trying to make them in the oven.

Hope I helped!

ETA: Tamales freeze really well, so if you are going to the trouble of making a couple, you can easily make some more, cook them all, and freeze them cooked.  Then, you can just reheat them in the oven, wrapped in foil, for about 15 minutes.

once you've measured the recipe down, try filling a much smaller pot as you will be yielding less. i would still stick to the cooking directions as much as possible to ensure the tamales cook fully. i've never tried baking them in the oven personally, but i don't think they wouldn't come out the same.

the corn husks are not edible, peel them away completely before enjoying your hot tamale! good luck!

replying to this post made me hungry. haha! :)

Thanks for all the tips guys. I probably should have looked up how to make them first before buying the husks. haha But it's a good thing I asked, cuz if I bought them in the store first to try, I'd end up trying to eat the husk like you would for any other wrap or spring roll!

I also have seen recipes where you just put the "prepared" massa in ramkins then put the "stuffing" kind of inside and/or on top. These are baked. I believe they were in a water bath though. I LOVE making tamales and have a great recipe for red chili sauce and salsa verde. OMG... I still have a few in the freezer from last time. I just pop them from the freezer to the microwave. These are salsa verde and chicken.