This is a recipe from my childhood. When I was young, my father was a member of parliament in the federal government and was spent most of the week 4 hours away in the the capital city of Ottawa, Canada. My mother was a teacher and also had to look after 3 daughters. To help lighten the load, we had au pairs, from either Quebec or France to help take care of us 3 girls. I’m still in contact with one of our au pairs, Evelyne, who was with us when I was 3 years old. One of the dishes that she used to make us was crêpes, which apparently I used to request all the time. After she returned home my mother continued to make them as a special treat. To this day, I continue to make them and it’s one of my family’s favourite breakfasts.
Crêpes are fantastic because they are easy to make and extremely versatile. The batter takes seconds to put together and they don’t take long to cook. You can fill them with whatever you desire and each person can choose their own filling. You can make the sweet or savory! I often make these when my kids have friends for sleepovers and their friends love being able to choose fillings. The sky is the limit when considering toppings, but I often set out jam, Nutella, whipped cream. maple syrup, fruit and my daughter’s favourite, a sprinkle of sugar and lemon juice. I also like to cook fillings with either bananas or apples where I saute them up with some brown sugar and butter and add rum or cinnamon for extra kick. Often I will make a double batch and save extras in the fridge for my kids to reheat for breakfast the next morning.
Today, my husband came to the kitchen for lunch while I was making the crêpes and decided to make have a couple for lunch, filled with asparagus, tomatoes and cheese. Delicious!
I hope you try this recipe and enjoy trying different toppings!
The recipe below is Evelyne’s recipe from France. She uses half flour, half corn starch for a lighter batter. She gave me the ingredients in grams and millilitres so I am posting it that way, with a few conversions for easier measurement. The batter should be quite runny so that it will spread easier in the pan. If it feels too thick you can add more milk or some water. I use a crêpe pan because it has angled sides that make it easier to get the spatula under the crêpe , but a 10-inch skillet is fine also.
French Crêpes
French crêpes are easy to make and the sky is the limit when topping your crêpes! Have fun experimenting with different flavour combinations! If you are going to do savoury crêpes, leave out the vanilla and rum.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch and sugar.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and rum.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk to combine. The batter should be fairly runny so add water to thin the batter as needed.
- Heat 10 inch skillet or crêpe pan over medium heat. When hot, brush with a small amount of vegetable oil.
- Gradually pour 1/3 cup of crêpe batter over the bottom of your pan, turning as you pour to move the batter around and coat the bottom of the pan. Keep turning and pouring until the bottom of the pan is coated, fill any holes with batter as needed.
- Cook until top looks dry and bottom begins to brown, 30 seconds – 1 minute.
- Flip crêpe and cook until 2nd side begins to have brown spots, 30 seconds to one minute.
- Repeat with remaining batter, brushing the pan with oil between making each crêpe.
- Keep crêpes warm in the oven while you make remaining crêpes. – Crêpes may be stored in the fridge and reheated in briefly in the microwave.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch and sugar.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and rum.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
The batter should be fairly runny so add more milk or water as needed.
Gradually pour 1/3 cup of crepe batter over the bottom of your pan, turning as you pour to move the batter around and coat the bottom of the pan.
Keep turning and pouring until the bottom of the pan is coated, fill any holes as needed.
Cook until top looks dry and bottom begins to brown, 30 seconds – 1 minute.
Flip crepe and cook until 2nd side begins to have brown spots, 30 seconds to one minute.
Finished crepes with some suggested toppings.
You can also make them savory. Just leave out the vanilla and rum.
this recipe brings back memories of my high school french class