France – How to make crêpes

Today I would like to write about a beloved dish from my country: crêpes! It is certainly one of the most famous french desserts and it is usually linked to pancakes, although crêpes (don’t forget the circumflex) are much thinner and larger. Traditionally associated with Bretagne (Brittany), a region in the northwest of France, these can be eaten sweet as well as savory.

In France, crêpes are especially served on Candlemas (Chandeleur, February 2): on that day it is thought that if you catch the crêpe with the frying pan after flipping it in the air with your right hand while holding a coin in your left one, you’ll be rich or at least won’t miss money that year. So let’s check how to cook crêpes!

What you need and how to do it

This is a basic recipe to cook crêpes with ingredients for approximately 8 crêpes:

• 125 g flour

• 2 eggs

• 300 cl milk

• 1 pinch of salt

• 1 tablespoon of sugar (for dessert crêpes)

• melted butter or oil (I use oil, but some people prefer using butter: you choose)

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour with the salt (and the sugar). Create a “well” in the middle and add the whisked eggs (just a bit with a fork). Slowly stir them with the flour preparation using a wooden spoon.

2. When the mixture gets thick, add the milk little by little (you can use a whisk, but always gently to avoid lumps).The pastry should be quite fluid, add a bit of milk if it’s not the case. It is better to let the batter rest for at least an hour, but I never do it and it doesn’t make the crêpes bad at all. So if you are in a hurry or impatient like me, skip that part.

3. Heat a frying pan over medium high heat. In a small container, put a bit of oil or of melted butter and pour a little of it in your pan with the help of a paper towel. Tip and rotate the pan to spread the fat as thinly as possible.

4. Pour enough batter with a ladle in the pan (not too much, they aren’t pancakes), tip and rotate it again until it is well spread and let it over the heat for around a minute. Once the crêpe does not stick to the pan anymore, it’s time to flip it. That is not an easy part: you can try your luck, but most of the time we just use a spatula. Let the crêpe cook for a minute more, then slide it to a plate. Keep your crêpes between two plates to keep them warm and soft!

5. Repeat until there is no batter anymore.

I don’t advise to cook savory crêpes for a lot of people (I would say 5 is already too much): crêpes are usually made one at a time, so served one at a time and no one eats at the same time. So if you don’t want to stand alone in your kitchen, while all your guests are eating (you never wait for anyone, otherwise the crêpes get cold), chose another recipe. On the other hand, sweet crêpes can be prepared a bit in advance and will delight everybody 😀

Crêpes: toppings and fillings

Crêpes are folded or rolled, filled with various sweet or savory toppings; the favorite sweet ones of French people are sugar, jam and nutella (not all together at the same time, please ^^).

Popular toppings:

Sweet

• sugar

• jam

• nutella

• vanilla ice cream

• whipped cream

• sliced bananas

Savory

• ham

• cheese

• egg

• sausages

• mushrooms

• actually anything you want

Bon Appétit!