Life’s swell when you’re eating crêpes!

One of my absolute FAVORITE recipes is my mother’s French crêpe recipe. Mom is from North Africa, which used to be a French territory, and cooks amazing French / Algerian cuisine. People always ask her to start a restaurant. She never has and probably never will - Lucky me, I’m on the receiving end of gourmet cooking whenever I head home to the Big Island! The French crêpe recipe is VERY simple and extremely versatile. You can make ham & cheese crêpes for the kids or go gourmet with a brie, prosciutto and basil filling – the choice is yours!

What you will need (I’ve provided Amazon affiliate links to some of my favorite products):

Crêpes pan – This is the kind I use at home.

Super fancy crêpes pan in case you really want to invest in your crêpes-making

Measuring cups – these are my favorite!

Rubber Spatula or
Crêpe turner – specifically for flipping crêpes, cheap too!

Big mixing bowl

Cheese cloth or dish towel

Soup ladle

Add dry ingredients together, make a well for your liquids and whisk!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla

1.5 cups milk

Couple splashes of light beer (If you want, it makes the batter lighter – not TOO much or the batter will get too thin!)

Butter

Cooking Process: 

Add ingredients together (except butter)

Whisk together until smooth, Let rest with a dish cloth over it out on the counter.  Let crêpe pan get really hot (don’t be afraid if it starts smoking). Use a stick of butter to butter the pan. (keep it out as it’s used for each crêpe) I usually take the pan off the heat to do this.

Butter your pan for each crêpe with your butter stick before you pour the batter in. Use a soup ladle to put crêpe batter into pan.  You want the batter to be enough to cover the pan but not too thick. Figure out how far up in the ladle is the perfect amount of batter for your pan and repeat. (This may take a few tries and you almost always ruin your first crêpe – don’t worry, it’s still delicious!)

Once you see bubbles and/or the crêpe is just cooked enough to flip, flip the crêpe. Remove when golden brown.  If the other side that you just flipped isn’t brown enough for you, you can flip it back over for a little toasting. Add fillings of your choice! Voila!

Fillings that I LOVE (all of these are to your own taste):

Butter & Sugar

Lemon & Sugar

Nutella & Bananas

Ham & Cheese

Mushroom, Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, Onion & Cheese

Prosciutto, Basil & Brie cheese

Strawberry, Whipped Cream & Macadamia Nut Crêpe (As seen on OC16′s “Cooking Hawaiian Style”)

Fried bananas with butter and Grand Marnier – Mmmmm!! My FAVORITE.

Leftovers & cheese – just look in the fridge!

What I love about crêpes is that you can make a big batch and keep it in the fridge. When you have nothing to eat, pull a crêpe out, fill it with leftovers (and some cheese – because cheese makes everything better!), throw it in the microwave or a frying pan and voila! Instant meal! Even better, pair it with a nice side of green salad (French vinaigrette recipe coming up soon).

Bon appétit!