Every Day Crepes

When my kids were little, a special breakfast was homemade pancakes. Weekends, special occasions and birthday’s … i made pancakes … Em asked me for ‘puppy dog pancakes’ one year on her birthday and then that became a thing … for MANY years i made puppy dog pancakes … Alex was a good sport for his first several years … so much so that i even thought he actually LIKED pancakes, turns out he didn’t really !!

5 ish years ago we went to West Edmonton Mall for the weekend and they had a crepe kiosk … i feel as though our family single handedly kept them in business that weekend … and that is when i realized my family LOVES crepes … so i bought a crepe pan ( i now have 3) and got to work learning how to make these thin circles of awesomeness !!

… i started by googling ‘easy crepe recipes’ and tried (and failed) at several … then i tried pulling a few things together from a couple different recipes and ended up with a recipe that is super yummy and my fam LOVED – Mom score …

i start with (2) cups of all purpose flour in one large bowl (this will be your main working bowl) … add the salt and set aside while you create your wet mixture …

… (4) eggs first …

… i mix the (1) cup of water with the (1) cup of milk together in the same measuring cup … by the way, this is my ALL TIME FAVE measuring cup and it’s from IKEA … they have this one and one size larger and they are awesome – super light weight and easy to read with the black text … so be sure to put them on your Ikea shopping list !!

Slowly add the water/milk mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly until light and frothy … i use a hand whisk for this recipe BUT … i have made it in my KitchenAid Mixer and it turns out beautifully as well …. whatever your preference !!

Get your mixing muscles out for this next step … it’s not terrible, but it’s super important to be sure to get all the lumps out so if you’re whisking, you’ll need to whisk quick 😉

I add the wet to the dry in 2 or 3 stages, whisking constantly after each … i find that if i add the wet in stages there are less lumps and its easier to get that nice silky smooth batter that you need for a really nice light crepe !!

… this is how it should look when you’re ready to start cooking …

Smooth, just a few small bubbles and literally dripping off your whisk (or beaters)

… this part is going to depend on the size of your crepe pan … mine makes 8″ rounds, so I use a 1/3 cup as my scoop … i heat my pan on medium and as soon as it’s hot (don’t let it sit hot for too long or you will burn your first one every time – speaking from experience ;))

… getting a perfect balance of batter on the pan is an art for sure and it took me SEVERAL tries to finally figure out what worked for me and my pan and this recipe … PLEASE do not be discouraged if you burn a few as you’re learning … i burnt MANY and every once in a while, i walk away for a minute too long and burn one, even now … they are kind of finicky and really don’t take too long to cook since they are so thin …

Once the pan is hot, i pick it up off the burner and almost ‘meet’ my batter from the scoop to the pan … i poor the batter quickly into the centre and start rotating the pan in a circular motion at the same time … this is super important as the batter starts to cook IMMEDIATELY upon hitting the pan, so rotating to get it spread to the edges right away will make all the difference in the thickness and even cooking of your crepe …

… this is what it will look like on one side as it is cooking through … the edges of the crepe will start to curl upward when it is ready to flip over … you can use a small flipper (yes i know they have a name but this is what i call them 🙂 ) …. but i use my fingers to gently pick it up and flip … they are super delicate and i find i have more control with my hands than a kitchen utensil …

… when done they will be gently and sporadically brown on both side (shown below) …

As i cook each one, they go right into this UH-MAZING crepe dish with ventilated lid … you can purchase it HERE from one of my most fave stores on the planet (Crate & Barrel) and i am fairly certain they call it a pancake warmer – but since we switched to crepes from pancakes years ago, i call it my crepe dish and it makes me VERY happy … so happy in fact, that it very rarely even gets put inside the buffet as it looks so pretty on top and makes me smile (and it may or may not get used so often that putting it away is just silly)

TOPPINGS – this is VERY important and prob the most important part of eating the crepes for my kiddos and their friends …

… you can be SO CREATIVE with this part as you can literally eat ANYTHING (ok almost anything) on a crepe …

When i serve them to my fam and kids’ friends, the table ALWAYS has fruit (whatever we have in the fridge), syrup of course (usually a couple different kinds), chocolate sauce (this is always a hit), icing sugar, butter and WHIPPED CREAM is a FAVE (and usually is completely gone by the end of the meal)

… my fave way to eat them is with butter (not marg) lightly spread on the inside before i roll them up, then topped with strawberries and icing sugar …