RECIPES

Crêpes & different ways to do them

by Adam Frost

The health benefits of crêpes vary greatly depending on what you put in them but your mental health is important too and these have been a lifesaver for us. I’ll give you our simple recipe and a few of my favourite variations. What’s awesome is you can have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner and my kids have never tired of them.

Simple Batter

Makes about 6-7 full sized crêpes.

Ingredients:

• 1 scant cup of flour
• 1-2 tbsp. of sugar to taste
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup of milk
• 3 eggs
• Butter

Steps

Combine dry ingredients then whisk in milk until smooth then add eggs and whisk until smooth. Once there are no lumps remaining you have crepe batter.

Heat a 10” round griddle or 12” frying pan with sloped sides (non stick or cast iron) over medium heat, add just enough butter to grease the pan and add enough crêpe batter to cover. For a 10” pan a normal sized soup ladle should do it and makes a good-sized crêpe (about 1/3 of a cup). Cook 2-3 minutes per side then remove and depending on what you are doing with it or if your child is begging for something to eat and will die if he doesn’t get something right this minute, fill it right then and there or if you can handle the tears put it on a plate and cover it with a clean kitchen towel and repeat until you’ve used up all the batter. You often have to adjust the heat down and remove the pan from the heat between crêpes.

Breakfast

CINNAMON ROLL UP

While hot, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with a liberal amount of Cinnamon and Sugar. If you’ve got it handy a little squeeze of lemon is nice here. Then just roll it up into a tight roll. I usually adjust the amount of sugar depending on how much I love them that morning. This is my go-to and the one where I’m rolling them up and serving them as soon as they come off the pan.

MAPLE SYRUP AND YOGHURT

Spoon some plain yoghurt at one end, roll it up and run a bead of maple syrup down the entire thing – if they are being nice and sweet you might allow the maple syrup to pool a bit at one end, but be warned, if you have two kids heaven help you if you can’t make it equal.

YOGHURT AND FRUIT

Throw some frozen fruit in a pot and cook down. You can add some orange or apple juice or water in a pinch. When suitably soft to your liking add them to your crêpe, spoon on some plain yogurt, roll it up and run a bead of maple syrup down it. If in season, replace the cooked fruit with fresh berries.

APPLE CHEESE HAND PANCAKES

Grate an apple. Don’t bother peeling if you can get away with it. Make an equal pile of cheddar cheese. Combine both piles with your crêpe batter and then spoon out small mini crêpes onto a greased frying pan with a large soup/tablespoon. I can usually get about 5-6 circles on the pan and they are about 2-3” wide. This makes lots, and they are more for days when you aren’t planning on sitting down for breakfast but the kids come running in to grab a few fresh ones off the plate and go running back to wherever they came from. These are also great as an afternoon snack or if you are feeding extra kids. These do better with a thinner batter and at a slightly lower heat.

Lunch / Dinner

PIGS IN A BLANKET

Boil some hotdogs, depending on your child’s age, slice them lengthwise to avoid the inherent choking hazard. Once you’ve cooked all your crêpes prepare one at a time by spreading regular yellow mustard across the entire crêpe with a back of a spoon, sprinkling with cheddar cheese, adding your hotdog or hotdog pieces and rolling them up. Line them up one next to the other on a baking tray sprinkle some extra cheese over the top (just a sprinkle, really whatever’s left over or skip) and heat up in a warm oven (300 degrees) for a few minutes until the cheese is melted. I like to cut these in half and serve with a green salad.

Below is what my wife has when the kids and I are having pig in a blanket, ‘cause you know… hot dogs…

SPINACH AND CHEESE

Mince half an onion and sauté with butter in a small frying pan until translucent 5-10 minutes. Fill the frying pan with fresh spinach and cook down until wilted and all the water in the spinach has evaporated, add a teaspoon or so of Dijon and a tablespoon of sour cream with a handful of shredded cheese, combine for a minute or two then dish into 2-3 crêpes. Roll each crepe up and stick them beside the pigs in a blanket (just remember which ones are which cause nobody’s going to be happy if you mix ‘em up).

Helpful tips

If you like to have an easier time of spreading add more milk and make your batter runnier. You might get little air bubbles and holes as a result but if you’re quick you can go back over and cover these up or in most cases it doesn’t matter. If your kids can handle a fork but not a knife, cut them up with the side of a fork rather than using a knife. The fork kind of seals it off and makes a nice little bite. Left over unfilled crêpes can be reheated really quickly on a frying pan the next day and filled the same way. There are a lot of variations you can do, for a while we were really into the cheese sauces with different vegetables, etc. But the ones listed here we go back to over and over and over……