Starting when my daughter was about two years old, crepes have been one of her favorite breakfast meals. We started out referring to them as “flat pancakes” and although that term has mostly died out in our household, we still manage to have them a few times every year. It’s been a tradition for the first day of school breakfast since she started going to school, and then I sneak them in every once in a while between special events.
The other day I also had an opportunity to make a gluten-free version, which actually turned out remarkably well, in my opinion.
They are really quite simple to make, they just require a hot pan and some patience, since they have to cook individually. I usually do two pans at the same time so that I can cook more in a shorter amount of time.
Basic crepe recipe
Ingredients for about 10 7-inch crepes
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (for gluten-free, I used 1/4 cup tapioca flour plus 1/2 cup of Bob’s Red Mill brand gluten free flour)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
Procedure
Beat the milk and egg together. I use a hand egg-beater for this, although you could use an immersion blender, regular blender, or even just a fork. Add the dry ingredients and mix in until no lumps stick to the side of your container. Then beat/blend until smooth.
Let the mixture rest for a few minutes. It should be the consistency of heavy cream – any thicker will result in something that comes closer to resembling a standard pancake than a crepe.
Heat your pan over medium high heat for a couple minutes.
Add a small amount of fat to the pan and swirl around – this is actually a case where I tend to prefer a non-stick cooking spray over butter or other more “natural” fats, because especially the first crepe tends to stick terribly without a very even coating of fat.
Pour a few tablespoons of the batter into the pan – it should cover about half the pan easily. Tilt the pan until the batter covers the entire bottom surface. Cook for about 30-45 seconds, until the edges start to brown, and you can see the batter has nearly cooked all the way through. It will change color slightly on top as it cooks. Using a thin spatula or knife, lift the edge of the crepe gently, and then grab hold with your fingers to completely lift and flip the crepe. It will be really hot, but I haven’t found a more reliable way of flipping than this.
After flipping the crepe, cook another 15-30 seconds until it shows some darkened spots. Remove from the pan and either fill immediately, or stack on a plate to keep warm.
We usually fill our crepes with jam, Nutella, and/or fruit like strawberries or bananas and roll up.