I love eating crepes. Crepes are so fun because you can eat them at any meal. You can do a breakfast crepe, lunch crepes, and even dessert crepes. My favorites are sweet crepes with nutella, strawberries and whipping cream. They are so fun to eat, but they are easier said than done to make. Crepes are always a difficult task. I have tried several times but I can never get them right. I have used some great crepe makers over the years. I’ve tried the one where you dip the entire hot plate into the batter and cook it. I have seen the real crepe maker deal where it is a hot plate with the wooden whisk to spread it. These crepe makers both work great and are really easy to work with. However, I personally do not own a crepe maker, so I am left to struggle with it on my own.
My mom and I thought that crepes sounded really good this morning and what’s one more time trying. We watched a youtube tutorial on how to spread the batter on a stove top pan and how to flip it. Like I said before, easier said than done. After we had made the batter and started to make the crepes, we ran into several problems. The main issue was getting the pan to the right temperature. We started with it way too hot and the batter was cooking before it had time to spread. Then we got it not hot enough and it was too doughy to flip. After what felt like an hour of attempts we finally got it somewhat figured out. They still were not perfect, but they did get better.
If you are in the same boat that I am and want to make crepes but don’t have a crepe maker, here are some helpful tips I found in my struggles.
1. Butter the pan every time. Some tell you not to but I found by buttering the pan, it gave the crepe something to hold onto and helped it to crisp up on one side making it easier to flip.
2. Use more batter than recommended. On a crepe maker, you can usually get away with keeping them pretty thin. It is extremely hard to keep them thin when doing it by hand. I found the more batter I used, they held together better and flipped easier.
3. Cook one side longer than the other. Cook the first side for about 2-3 minutes and be patient with it. It will make flipping easier and help it hold its round shape.
4. Low heat. On my stove, I turned it up to about 4 on the scale thinking it needed to be hot. The perfect temperature ended up being about 2.4-2.8.
5. If they turn out ugly, they still taste good. Fold them up and pile them like I did and people will never know you struggled with it 🙂
Here is the recipe I used for the batter
1 1/2 cups milk
4 eggs
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 squeezed lemon juice
Add all into a blender and blender the batter until it’s foamy at the top. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Butter the skillet and heat it up to a nice low heat, about 2-3 on my scale. Add about 1/3 cup of the batter and move it around until it covers the bottom of the pan. Cook one side for two to three minutes. Then flip. Repeat with remaining batter. Makes about 10 medium sized crepes.
Topping Suggestions: strawberries, yogurt, granola, whipping cream, syrup, cinnamon, powdered sugar, nutella, peanut butter, butter, berries, bananas, and jams.
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| Not the prettiest and that is okay. Practice makes perfect. |
