It’s a tradition in our household to make French crepes most Sundays and any day during the school holidays.
They’re delicious, light, easy to make and best of all they’re a crowdpleaser – they will make babies smile and grown men weep.
The secret to making good crepes is balance – of the flour, eggs and milk. The other secret is focus and timing. Crepes don’t take long to make but during that crucial stage of cooking, timing and focus are the essence.
And the best way to do that is simply to practice.
Oh, there’s one other secret too and that’s lashings of Nutella or similar – yum! The chocolaty, creamy nutty paste melts onto a freshly made crepe so smoothly and coupled with blueberries or raspberries it’s heaven on a plate.
French crepes
1/3 cup of plain white flour
2 large eggs
3/4 cup of milk (or a little more if the mixture appears too thick)
1/2 tab butter
Crepe or lightweight frypan
Method
Add flour to a bowl and then eggs. Beat until the mixture is yellow and smooth. Begin adding milk. Stir, add the rest of the milk and stir. The consistency should be smooth and almost dripping off the spoon runny. If it’s not then add a little more milk. Melt the butter in a crepe or light weight frypan, swirl it around to coat the pan and then add rest of the butter to the crepe mixture. Stir.
Add about one-quarter of a cup of the mixture to the heated pan (if the pan is smoking it’s too hot, let it cool a little) and swirl around the pan until the whole base is covered. Use the first crepe for a practice run. It generally soaks up a lot of the butter and isn’t so good to eat. The crepe takes only about 30 seconds to cook. They’re ready to flip when the edges begin to curl up. Use a spatula or your fingers to lift and flip it over. Cook for another 15 seconds or so until the base comes away from the pan. Lay on a plate, paste half of it with Nutella, fold into quarters and serve with your favourite fruit. Mmmmm …
Bon appetite!