Making
French crêpes takes a little practice and the first one is never perfect unless
you wait for the butter to sizzle in the pan. In France they are served rolled
up with a sumptuous fruit filling and topped with whipped cream. For perfect crêpes,
order a pan from The Baker's Catalogue®.
Strawberry Filling
4 pounds strawberries, hulled and sliced
⅔ cup vanilla
syrup
¼ cup boysenberry
syrup
¼ cup granulated
sugar
Crêpes
2 cups fat-free milk
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose
flour
⅓ cup granulated
sugar
3 tablespoons butter,
melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
Canned whipped cream
Confectioners' sugar
1.
Filling: Prepare strawberries
and place in a large bowl. Stir
in vanilla syrup,
boysenberry syrup and sugar. Refrigerate.
2. Crêpes:
In a blender, process the milk, eggs, flour, sugar,
melted butter,
vanilla and salt until smooth. You will need to
scrape down the
sides with a spatula a few times.
3. There are a few tricks to making
crêpes. First take a butter
cube and peel
back some of the wrapper, leaving the butter
still wrapped up
with the end open.
4. Heat a crêpe pan, a 5-quart
sauté pan or a 13-inch nonstick
griddle on medium
high. Rub butter on inside of pan to coat
base and up sides.
Pour ⅓ cup batter into pan, swirl to coat
the base of the crêpe
pan.
5. Run a spatula around the edges,
keeping the crêpe loose. Shake
the pan. If the
crêpe moves it is ready to turn over. The easiest
way to do this
is to slide the crêpe to one side of the pan and then
scoop it up and
turn it over. When fully cooked fold in half,
then in half
again to form a triangle; keep in a stack on a
warm plate until
needed.
6. Lay each unfolded crêpe on a
serving plate. Place
strawberries at
one end, then roll up. Top with sifted
confectioners'
sugar; then top with whipped cream.
Variation:
You may also make a banana rum filling by frying
6 sliced bananas
in ½ cup butter, ½ cup dark brown sugar,
½ teaspoon
vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon rum flavoring.
For variety, use
canned apple pie, cherry, or blueberry filling.
Hint: To
use up any remaining crêpes, spread with melted
butter and a
sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. Roll up and serve
warm. The crêpes
can also be made a day ahead and
refrigerated.
Simply reheat in the microwave before serving.
Makes 12 crêpes