Crepes and Scapes - a belated Independence day post (part 1)

For dinner on the Fourth, we did pretty much what everyone does - Ferraro's hot dogs and veggies on the grill, watermelon, beer, and a delicious berry cobbler (I use the term loosely) thing courtesy of some friends :) While delicious, our culinary escapades earlier in the day were significantly more exciting, or at least unusual, and thus the topic of this post.

After rolling out of bed Saturday morning, we decided to kick off our celebration of America with something decidedly un-American: Crepes

For some reason, crepes don't often appear on the tables of your everyday American family. They're actually super easy to make - definitely on par with pancakes and waffles. So, next time you're in the mood for a tasty brunch, dessert, or snack and think "wow, I really wish there was a crepe stand down the street because those things are so thin there's no way I can make them myself" have no fear - here's how to do it.

Here's the batter recipe, courtesy of Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything"
1 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp sugar (if you're making sweet crepes - which, I mean, why wouldn't you be?)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp butter melted and cooled, plus more for the crepe pan

Whisk together all the ingredients, and, if you're feeling patient (which Ben and I never are), refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour and up to 24.

A note on melting butter: if you're like any other 21-year old in the country, you'll want to do this in a microwave. Which is fine, but heed these instructions - microwave in VERY small increments. I'm talking like ten seconds, taking out and stirring in between. Otherwise, the butter will spatter and you'll lose half of it. It's also smart to put something like a paper towel over whatever you're microwaving in, so that if it does spatter, the inside of your microwave won't be covered in butter.

Anyhow, once your batter is ready, put an 8 or 10 inch skillet over medium heat, wait a few minutes, then add a small pat of butter (enough to grease the pan)

Getting the right amount of batter in the pan is the hardest part. You need enough so that it can swirl around and coat the bottom of the pan, but not so much that it gets thick and un-crepe like.
Pour in a few tablespoons, and swirl it around the pan as Ben is so graciously demonstrating here:

When the top of the crepe is dry (after about a minute), flip the crepe over and cook for another 15-30 seconds, until it just starts to brown. DO NOT let it get crispy.

Swirling and flipping the crepe correctly will probably take some practice, so don't be disheartened if the first few are a little ugly - they still taste good, I promise.

Once you've removed the crepe from the pan, it's filling time! On this particular occasion we used various combinations of nutella, chocolate chips, butter, cinnamon and sugar, honey, and frozen raspberries and blueberries (hey this is starting to get patriotic!)

When your crepe is done cooking, take it out of the pan and place it in a baking dish:


Note: Ben is not demonstrating proper crepe technique here. It's not smart to dangle your crepe so precariously over the floor, especially if you have a dog.

Place your selected filling on the bottom third of the crepe like so:


This one has berries and chocolate chips. Roll the crepe up like a burrito, and arrange it in the pan with the others.



For the last few crepes, we added some cocoa to the batter to make chocolate ones. If you want the insides to get nice and gooey and heated through, put your pan in the oven on low heat (325 or so) for about 10 minutes. Here's the finished product:


Top them off with syrup or whipped cream, or just eat them plain - the best thing about crepes is how personalizable they are. These were a great start to a day filled with delicious food.