I make crepes a lot. Mainly just because they’re delicious, but also because they’re so easy, and there are SO many options for them. I know that there are tons of people who are intimidated by making them; they’re so thin, they seem impossible to flip, and if you ever watch someone do it at one of those trendy crepe restaurants, it seems like an art form. The key to making them at home though, it’s just not caring about the way they turn out. It doesn’t matter if one is thicker than the others, or darker than the others.
The other key is accepting that the first 1-2 are going to look like crap, they just are, at least in this house. I consider those chef scrapes to be eaten while making the rest of the batch.
As for fillings – my favorite way for breakfast is cottage cheese and cherry pie filling inside, with whipped cream on top. Totally a healthy way to start the weekend <- sarcasm alert. Other awesome ways to fill: sugar, cinnamon sugar, nutella, nutella with banana slices (or apple slices, or strawberries, nutella basically goes with everything), peanut butter and banana, peanut butter and jam, dulce de leche, ricotta with a little icing sugar mixed in and then fruit added, any kind of jam or fresh fruit.
If you want to really kick it up – beat some cream cheese with a little bit of icing sugar until it’s spreadable. Spread that inside a crepe, top with some macerated raspberries and a drizzle of Devonshire cream. Fold it up, then top with some fresh raspberries and more Devonshire cream. This is the greatest thing ever, and I just realized it’s been at least a couple of years since I made them this way, so now it’ll probably be happening next weekend.
Now, I whip the batter up in a blender because it’s incredibly easy, and I can pour the batter straight into the pan from it. You can just use a whisk, or a hand mixer though, it doesn’t matter.
Sweet Crepes
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1½ cups flour
- 2 tbsp melted butter, optional, for the cooking pans (see NOTE below)
Instructions
- Put the milk, eggs, butter, vanilla, sugar, and salt into a blender. Mix to combine. Add the flour and mix until uniform. You can also do this with a whisk, or a hand mixer.
- Heat a 10" non-stick skillet (very important) over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and add a scant ¼ cup of batter to the pan. Rotate the pan so that the batter spreads out into a circle, covering the entire bottom. After the first one or two you'll get the feel of exactly how much batter to use.
- When the very edge of the crepe just begins to show the tiniest bit of colour (about 30 seconds), use a spatula to flip the crepe over. Cook on the second side for about 15 - 20 seconds, then remove to a plate while you cook the others.
- Fill with your choice of fillings (see below for some options)
Notes
Mixed Filling Options:
Cherry cheese: add cottage cheese and cherry pie filling to the center and roll up, top with whipped cream.
Raspberry dream: beat ½ cup cream cheese with 1 tbsp icing sugar. Spread 1-2 tbsps in the center of the crepe. Top with macerated raspberries and a drizzle of devonshire cream. Fold up, and top with more raspberries and cream.
Traditional Filling Options:
Sugar
Cinnamon Sugar
Nutella, alone or with fruit (bananas, strawberries, etc.)
Peanut Butter, alone or with jam or fruit (bananas, etc.)
Jam
Ricotta cheese mixed with a bit of icing sugar and fruit
Fresh fruit
Dulce de leche
NOTE:
If you are using a good non-stick pan there is no need to add any additional butter. If your pan is starting to lose some of it's non-stick though, use a brush to lightly brush some additional butter to the bottom of the pan before adding the batter.
Let me know below!