A classic French recipe, crêpes make a delicious meal, snack, or dessert. As one of the most versatile foods, crêpes lend themselves to both savory and sweet preparations. They can be served unaccompanied, filled with eggs, ham, and cheese, or with Nutella and whipped cream as a dessert. The possibilities are endless, so experiment to discover the vast number of preparations the crêpe has to offer.
The following recipe requires a large frying pan, a big bowl, a stove, and a ladle or similar pouring device.
Ingredients (makes enough for 6-10 crêpes):
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Then beat eggs into the mixture making sure that they are incorporated fully. Pour in the milk a little bit at a time mixing thoroughly until smooth. Finally stir in the melted butter.
Heat the frying pan over medium high heat. Add a bit of oil or butter so the crêpes do not stick to pan. Now this is the delicate part. Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan. Do not pour too much! A crêpe is supposed to be extremely thin and the batter should barely be able to cover the pan after tipping and rotating it to spread it. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible.
Wait approximately 2-5 minutes until the crêpe can be flipped, then flip it with a spatula or by tossing it in the air. For the egg, ham, and cheese recipe, right after flipping the crêpe, add the egg on top so it can cook. Finally, serve hot with desired toppings.
Here are some additional serving ideas – Nutella and whipped cream, sugar and a bit of lemon, honey, jam, or even cut fruit such as bananas.
In France, crêpes are traditionally served on Candlemas, which falls on February 2. Candelmas was originally Virgin Mary’s Blessing Day, but became known in France as “Le Jour des Crêpes,” meaning literally “The Day of Crêpes.” The popular belief was that if one could toss crêpes in the air with their right hand while holding a gold coin in their left hand, they would become rich that year.