Crêpes

Crêpes

Sweet or savory, stuffed or plain, crêpes are always a good idea! This delicious and fool-proof recipe for easy and thin basic crêpes that will be perfect with any topping or stuffing.

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Crêpes, My Love

Hello, friends. Wouldn’t you like some crêpes today? I’ve got you covered.

Personally, I am a huge fan of them. In most situations, Andrey and I will choose them over pancakes or waffles. Why am I saying this? I believe you know my love for them. If you have not been reading this blog for a while, I will happily give you some evidence.

Sweet? Sure. I have these Crêpes Suzette.

Crêpe cakes are my another love. I’ve got a plenty of ideas such as this Mascarpone Apricot Lavender Crepe Cake, Lemon Rainbow Crepe CakeRed Velvet Crêpe Cake, or my favorite Dulce de Leche Irish Cream Crêpe Cake. 

I am a huge fan of savory ones, and I regularly make some for lunch or dinner. There are a few ideas for you such as Butternut Squash Chicken Buckwheat CrêpesGround Beef Stuffed Crêpes, or my recent creation Mushroom Chicken Crêpe Cannelloni.

But today we are enjoying just some delicious crêpes. I thought that would make some sense to post the recipe for crêpes without stuffing and assembling being involved.

There’s the thing. Making crêpes is a fascinating process. First of all, I do not have a specific recipe. When I make the batter, I fully rely on my intuition. Dry and wet ingredients are not something constant here. Certainly, there are some approximate proportions, but normally I would adjust the batter for a couple of times adding more of either flour or liquid before I get the perfect one. As the matter of fact, I might make my first few crêpes and then still alter the batter.

But the most fascinating thing about crêpes is that they are so different. I mean that. One batter – so many different patterns in one stack! Check the pictures if you don’t believe me. There are a few factors which affect their patterns from the temperature, the type of skillet, and greasing the skillet. Besides altering the batter, I often play with the heat occasionally decreasing and increasing it for the perfect results.

However, I have recorded the crêpe batter this time only for you, my friends. I am not saying this is an authentic recipe, but I am positive you will like it.

There are some things I’d like to mention.

  • Most recipes suggest using milk only, but I love combining both milk and lukewarm water. This combination looks better to my taste.
  • You can add either oil or butter in the batter, but I like how butter works here.
  • I don’t like sweet butter, but I always add a tiny pinch of powdered sugar just to balance the taste.
  • Adding 1 teaspoon of cornstarch will make crêpes more elastic which is good for making stuffed crêpes or a cake.
  • For the best results, it’s recommended to refrigerate the batter for at least 15-20 minutes.
  • The skillet should be quite hot, but you should be flexible about this to avoid burning.
  • While making crêpes, you don’t need to grease your skillet often. I lightly butter it every 5-6 crêpes, but it depends on your skillet.
  • A spatula is the best way to flip a crêpe, but I often first lose the edges with a butter knife.
  • Experiment with the different kinds of flour. Buckwheat, oat or rye crêpes are so delicious. However, keep in mind that it’s important to incorporate wheat flour as well as without gluten your crêpes might turn soggy and underbaked.
  • If you are going to serve crêpes sweet, you can infuse the butter with vanilla extract or citrus zest or even add some cocoa powder.

Finally, there’s the most important question. What do you put on crêpes? Almost everything, my friends. Cheese, ham, mushrooms, ground beef are just a few savory things to mention. Feeling extravagant? Try sour cream and smoked salmon or red caviar. Sweet cravings? Lemon and sugar, dulce de leche, honey, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate sauce, cinnamon sugar, and various fruit and berry preserves – these are just a couple of ideas. My favorite toppings are sweetened condensed milk and dulce de leche. And honey. And occasionally berry preserves especially the raspberry one. Gosh, it’s so hard to decide! I am always jealous of Andrey you can pick the only one topping (normally preserves) for his entire serving while I end up having every single crêpe with a different topping.

Life is hard, you know that.

What’s your favorite thing to put on crêpes?

I hope you like this crepes, and you will give them a try shortly. If you make it, let me know in this post or send me an Instagram message or share your photos adding the hashtag #havocinthekitchen.

Cheers!

Crêpes
Crêpes
Crêpes
Crêpes

Crêpes

Recipe by Ben | HavocinthekitchenCourse: Dessert, Breakfast, BrunchCuisine: French
Servings

12-16

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes
Resting / chilling time

30 min

to 2 hours

A delicious and fool-proof recipe for easy and thin basic crepes that will be perfect with any sweet or savoury topping or stuffing.

Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1 and 1/2 cups lukewarm water

  • 1 and 1/2 cups of 2% milk

  • 2 tbsp. butter, melted

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

  • 1/2 to 2/3 tsp. salt

  • 1/2 to 2/3 tsp. sugar (optional)

  • cooking oil or melted butter, for greasing

Directions

  • Sift the flour and add the sugar and salt into a large bowl.
  • Gradually add the milk and lukewarm water, constantly mixing with a wire whisk, until homogeneous.
  • Incorporate the eggs, one at a time, whisking.
  • Add the melted butter.
  • Refrigerate the batter for at least 30 minutes (preferably 1 to 2 hours). Once chilled, the batter will thicken up a bit so you might need to adjust its consistency by adding a spoon or so of water or milk.
  • Preheat the crepe pan over medium heat; it should be hot enough. Slightly grease it with oil or butter.
  • Pour enough batter to thinly coat the base and tilt the pan to create an even thickness (for a 9 inch pan about 1/4 cup of batter will be enough.)
  • Cook until the top of the crepe is no longer wet and the bottom has turned light brown and edges are crisp and lacy, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip and cook for another minute or so. Adjust the heat as needed.
  • PRO-TIPS: first one or two crepes are the “test crepes”. They might not turn well, and that’s perfectly normal. If you struggle with flipping a crepe, it could mean you need to grease the pan more generously or preheat the pan a bit longer. It is also the time when you check out the batter consistency and can adjust it (by adding about 1/2 tbsp. of flour or 1-2 tbsp. of water or milk.) If crepes keep breaking, you can whisk in another egg – it will help make them more elastic. For thinner crepes, the batter should be runnier, but it also can be challenging to flip such thin crepes. If you a novice, making the batter a little thicker (by adding 1/2 – 1 tbsp. extra flour) will help. Also, try the first “test” crepe and add more salt or sugar, if necessary.
  • Transfer a baked crepe on a plate and repeat with the remaining batter. Depending on your pan size and thickness of the batter, this amount of batter will yield 12 to 16 crepes. (I used a 9 inch pan, and the batter was think, and I had 17 crepes.)
  • Serve with sweet or savory toppings or just plain. Enjoy!

8 thoughts on “Crêpes

  1. David @ Spiced says:

    So I just read your bbq pulled chicken crepes post, and then I worked my way back to this one. Oops. I read them out of order. But this is an excellent post, and a great reminder on the tips for making delicious crepes. I haven’t made crepes in, gosh, lots of months now. I think this weekend sounds like a good time to fix that problem! Thanks for sharing, Ben!!

  2. Shashi at SavorySpin says:

    Ben, I am so impressed that you don’t have a set crepe recipe and rely on intuition to make them – wow! This stack of crepes is GORGEOUS! I usually LOVE crepes with jam and whipped creme – but I could even eat these plain!

  3. neil@neilshealthymeals.com says:

    These are stunning Ben! I do like crepes but I must confess to having never made them at home. I hope to address that issue with these soon. My most fond memories of having crepes was in Paris a few years ago on a visit with Lynne where we sat a a street cafe eating lovely plain and simple crepes with just a little lemon squeezed over. Thanks for revoking those amazing memories with your recipe, my friend! :-)

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