How To Make Crepes.

…without a crepe pan!

 

I don’t own a crepe pan. If I stuff one more appliance, utensil, pot or pan into my kitchen it will spontaneously combust.

It will also qualify me to be on Hoarders.

 

Up until New Year’s Eve, I had never eaten a crepe. I know, I know – what kind of foodie am I?

Then Barb made those fantastic, addicting ice cream crepes, and I’m not sure if I should hug her or hate her for introducing me to crepes. After all, we did eat then entire pan of ice cream crepes that she helped me make the next day.  And by we, I really mean I.

And on New Year’s Eve, my husband had 6 of her crepes for dessert. I definitely have a partner in crime.

 

Since I had never made crepes before, I was struck with fear that they would turn out terribly. I can’t make pancakes. I can’t make omelets. For some reason, I felt like both of those things were prerequisites to making crepes.

Oh, and the big one – I HAVE ZERO PATIENCE.  What is patience? I don’t even know what that word means. And no, I don’t want to learn. I’d rather sit in my pool of ignorance and throw tantrums mid-cook.

Thank goodness Barb was there to take me down a notch.

My husband was thankful, too.

 

 

Anyway …

These crepes are fabulous. I’ve mentioned Barb’s husband, Jack, before and told you what an amazing chef he was. He also headed up the US Olympic chef team for many years – if that doesn’t scream ‘incredible food’, what does?

 

So, one bright, sunny morning in early January, Barb taught me how to make crepes. Yes – there are a few discrepancies in that sentence, because ‘bright,’ ‘sunny,’ and ‘January’ aren’t exactly the proper words to describe Pittsburgh.

Oh, well. I thought you needed a visual.

 

 

Since I do not own a crepe pan, I used a large skillet. This ensured that the edges would not be rounded or flipped over. Barb taught me that. Thanks, Barb.

 

Heat the skillet on medium heat. The first crepe is almost always a ‘test’ crepe. Once you get going, the remaining crepes will turn out beautifully.

 

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out the batter and pour it into the skillet. This way, all of our crepes will be around the same size.

 

Pour it into the pan like so:

 

Now comes the fun part. Or, if you are Type A like myself, the anxiety-inducing part that causes slight panic attacks.

 

Pick up the pan and swirl that baby around:

 

 

Until it looks like this:

Then, allow it to cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. You will definitely be able to tell when it is finished. You have 2 options: 1.) Let it cook fully on one side and remove it from the pan, or 2.) Flip it once which gives the other side a golden-brown color. Either way works perfectly fine.

To remove the crepe from the pan, lightly slide a spatula under one side. It may feel like it will break, but it won’t!

 

They come out looking pretty, like so:

 

Place a piece of wax paper on top of each crepe while finishing up with the remaining batter. This ensures that the crepes won’t stick together and rip apart.

 

 

Then, do naughty, mouth-watering, waist-fattening thing to it, like this:

 

You are most likely going to see many more crepe recipes pop up, due to my wild obsession with them.

Until then, try out this incredible recipe from Barb. They truly are the best crepes ever. Thanks, Barb!

 

 

Crepes

makes 12-14 crepes

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 eggs

Sift dry ingredients together. Mis wet ingredients (except melted butter), making sure eggs are beat throroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir until all lumps are gone. Stir in melted butter.

Heat a skillet on medium heat. Melt butter, add olive oil, or use an oil spray to coat the pan. Add batter with a 1/4 cup measuring cup to the hot skillet. Let cook for about 30-60 seconds.

Remove and store inbetween wax paper while cooking the remaining crepes.

Tagged as: crepes, recipes