Recipes: Crepes

I know the holidays are coming up and most people are trying to find places to cut calories, but let’s just say that’s not my life. So I’m bringing y’all a recipe that I wanted to learn how to make for a long time, and spent *several* Saturdays (often with help) hammering out the recipe.

The goal was the intersection of delicious and simple because I like to eat but I do not often want my food (especially breakfast food) to be particularly high effort. It feels fancy without actually being hard to pull off.

The majority of this recipe will be spent on the crepes themselves, but I’ll have a small section toward the end about fillings/toppings. Also, as a disclaimer, I make small crepes because I am not an Advanced Crepe Cook^TM and for the same reason usually top them instead of filling them. It’s less legit, but no less delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 tbsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4-5 tbsp. butter, melted

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients (order doesn’t matter much, but it needs to be blended well — I use a large fork because the contents can get stuck inside of a whisk, but you can also use an electric mixer). If you’re not sure if it’s combined enough, it should have no chunks and a consistency slightly thicker than eggnog
2. NOTE: So far every time I’ve made this the butter has shown up as little flecks in the batter, perhaps because of something in the way I melt it. It looks weird, but doesn’t affect the cooking or flavor
3. Warm a good nonstick pan over about medium heat (depending on the stove), and lightly grease it. A little butter swirled around works best
4. Pour about 1/3 cup batter into the pan, and swirl the pan around to encourage the batter to spread
5. Let it cook until your spatula slides in easily underneath, or the whole crepe moves when you shake the pan (usually 3ish minutes on my stove)
6. Here’s the fun part. CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: To fill the crepe, proceed to step 7. To finish the crepe without filling (toppings can still be added), proceed to step 8.
7. Add filling into the middle third of the crepe when it’s cooked for a couple of minutes. Allow it to cook a little longer, then fold the other sides over it, and voilá!
8. Flip the crepe over — brownie points if you can do it without a spatula (I can’t)
9. Allow it to cook about a minute, then fold over into thirds (see picture below)
10. PRO TIP: Since these are a one-at-a-time kind of creation, heat your oven to like 200ºF and store the finished ones in there until they’re all ready
11. If not filled, or even if they are, top as desired and serve!

Filling/topping:

There are lots of easy things to put on top, like powdered sugar, nutella, syrup, or whipped cream. But there are also a variety of topping/filling options that raise the bar. Here are some of my favorites:

• chocolate chips and fresh fruit, especially berries
• cheese and bacon (best as a filling)
• homemade fruit compote — this is the one I always make, with a variety of fruit. In the pictures, I just heated and spruced up some of the leftover filling from my mini apple pie recipe, but often I’ll take small pieces of fresh fruit and a little honey or agave syrup and set it to simmer on low before starting the crepes. Stir it occasionally, and thicken it with a simple rue (1-2 tbsp. flour mixed with a few tsp. of water). By the time the crepes are done cooking, it should be a sweet fruit mix to top or fill crepes!

Cost about $7* (without topping/filling), makes 10-12 crepes

I really hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I have. What are your favorite breakfast treats, or have you found a better way to make crepes? Let me know in a comment below, on Twitter @ohgrowup, or Instagram @oh.grow.up! Thanks for reading, and happy eating!

*Cost was again a real rough estimate because basically all of the ingredients are regularly stocked in most houses. Sorry if the cost is off, but the point is it definitely isn’t pricey.

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