If you are looking for a fun and delicious meal, look no further! Crêpes are so perfect and so versatile. You can make them for breakfast, brunch, lunch, a light supper or dessert. You can prepare the batter up to a day ahead and you can even make the crêpes ahead, refrigerate them, wrap them in foil and reheat them in a 325°F oven. You can use all sorts of fun toppings, savory or sweet. We generally start with savory crêpes and then finish off with a sweet crêpe, just with sugar and lemon juice; I will give you some ideas for fillings below but use your imagination, pretty much anything goes!
Oh, and if you want to sound truly French when you serve them, just pronounce them “crehp” like the French do! 🇫🇷❤️
Makes 8 - 12 crêpes:
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 cup cold milk, plus more if needed
2 eggs
2 tbsp. melted butter, plus unmelted butter for cooking
Whisk together flour, salt, sugar, milk, and eggs until smooth. If the mixture isn’t quite pourable, add a little more milk. If you have time, let the batter rest in the fridge for an hour.
Heat the oven to 200°F. This is to keep the ones you have made already warm until you are ready to eat them.
I love to use my crêpe pan because it is the perfect size and it heats up evenly and reliably.
Take the crêpe batter out of the fridge and give it a good stir.
If you don’t have a crêpe pan, just use a nonstick or well-seasoned 8- or 10-inch skillet over medium heat and wait a couple of minutes; add a small pat of butter. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of batter to the skillet (depends on the size of your skillet). Swirl it around so that it forms a thin layer at the bottom of the pan, pour the excess batter back into your bowl. Watch my video from the 4'50" mark to see this.
When the top of the crêpe is dry, after about 1 1/2 minutes, turn and cook the other side for 15 to 30 seconds. The crêpe should be light golden and not at all crisp.
Repeat the process, adding butter to the skillet and adjusting the heat as needed, until all the batter is used up. Stack the crêpes on a plate in the oven and fill and fold them all at once, once you are finished making them. This way everybody gets to eat their crêpe at the same time. If you want the filling warmed (such as cheese), put the crêpe back into the pan and fill and fold over low heat for a few minutes.
Once you have filled the crêpes, either roll them up or fold them up like a little parcel.
Voilà! 🇫🇷 Enjoy! ❤️
Ideas for savory filling:
Any grated or thinly sliced cheese like Fontina, Mozzarella, goat cheese, Gruyère, cheddar or even Brie or blue cheese
Mix melted cheese with any type of ham!
Cooked vegetables, such as asparagus or peppers. Reheat them in a little bit of butter and make sure that they are cut to a convenient size to eat with the crêpes.
Mushroom Ragout made by frying 1 shallot in olive oil until it’s soft, add 2 tbsp. butter, 1 pound of sliced mushrooms, 1 tbsp. fresh thyme, 2 tbps. lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook until mushrooms have a golden color. Add 1/2 cup of cream and reduce down. Add 1 tbsp. tarragon. Lovely sauce to serve with crêpes!
Smoked salmon, dill and sour cream
If you make crêpes with ham and cheese, it is nice to put a fried egg on top
And so many more ideas! Anything goes, if you like it, it’s good! Don’t forget to add fresh herbs!
Ideas for sweet filling:
Lemon juice and sugar is our favorite.
Any jam, jelly, marmalade or macerated fruit
Nutella or peanut butter
Any peeled and pitted fresh fruit. We love fresh strawberries or bananas
Maybe even a creamy caramel sauce
Possibilities are endless!
I also like to make savory Buckwheat Crêpes, which are quite typical for the North of France. Their taste is a bit stronger, more robust and they are darker. If you omit the white flour, these crêpes are gluten free!
Buckwheat Crêpes
1 cup of Buckwheat flour. I really like this light Buckwheat flour because it is milder in taste.
1/4 cup Buckwheat flour
Pinch salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup cold milk,
1 cup water plus more if needed
2 eggs
2 tbsp. melted butter, plus unmelted butter for cooking
Let the batter rest for at least one hour before cooking the crêpes.
Follow the instructions mentioned in the recipe above for crêpes to make buckwheat crêpes.
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