Maybe it was my lavender in bloom?  Or maybe it was knowing that my foodie friend was coming over?  The anticipation of a south end date that same night?  (B&G Oysters by the way – delish!) Or the fact that I absolutely love cooking and tend to want to try new recipes on the weekend?

I needed a snack to take to an outing at the beach with friends this past weekend and I didn’t want to just throw a bag of chips in the beach bag, so I made crêpes for the first time.  I figured we could eat them easily all rolled up. If you are going to eat, eat smaller amounts but do eat well.  I’m even calorie counting right now and therefore I want my food to be real.  I don’t want to waste calories on packaged, processed crap.

Crêpes. Oh my yum.

I used this recipe for sweet crêpes (savory crêpes would be slightly different, and I filled these with sweet fillings) from Dave Lieberman and simply halved the sugar, used low-fat milk, and used almond extract as well.  I also doubled the recipe since I planned to feed 6.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups low-fat organic milk
4 very humanely-raised eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp melted butter (plus more to butter your pan a little before each new crepe)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl.  Add milk in slowly and whisk.  Once the lumps are gone, whisk in your eggs.  Then add the butter, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract and whisk it all together.

Heat a non-stick pan.  OK hold up. First, here’s some advice for you.  I didn’t even have a non-stick pan prior to the crêpes because I’d always heard they are rather toxic.  Our pans are stainless steel.  I didn’t want to risk trying to cook these delicate little pieces of deliciousness on stainless steel because you have to move so quickly to make them thin without burning, so I went searching for a crêpe pan.  What the heck, retail stores? I couldn’t find one!  Seriously! I looked in Home Goods and Target with no avail. I purchased a round, flat (and kinda cheap) non-stick pan instead and naturally I regret the purchase (like food, I feel if you are going to buy something, make it quality).  After actually making the crêpes, I realize that a crepe pan really would have been better, so I’m going to get one before my next crepe extravaganza.  Anyone want a cheap non-stick pan?

Anyway, heat the non-stick pan over medium heat.  Add a small pat of butter and swirl it around the pan.  Then pour a little less than 1/3 cup of the batter into your pan, quickly rotating your wrist in circles so the batter spreads out thinly all over the pan.  You have to do this quickly!

Let the crêpes cook for just over a minute (this will vary depending on your stove I’m sure), and flip.  I used a small spatula and it worked great.  Cook for an additional minute or so and then remove from the pan.   Repeat for the rest of your batter and make sure you add a smidge of butter before each new crêpe.

This recipe made 14 crêpes.

You can add so many different spreads to these crêpes before you roll them.  I chose lemon curd (holy hell is lemon curd good), GOOD strawberry jam (it isn’t worth it to waste a crêpe with lame jam), and chocolate hazelnut spread (most common brand would be Nutella).  My favorite was definitely the lemon curd.

A few tips about spreading your filling

• Don’t add too much or things will get messy when you go to roll your crêpes up. Plus, you want a hint of spread, not gobs of it.
• Don’t feel you have to spread your filling on every millimeter of the crêpe.  Remember, you are rolling it up, so you just want the flavor in each bite.

What I’d do if I could do over.
Aside from using a proper crêpe pan for a more thin, uniformly shaped crêpe, I’d also cut back on the amount of batter in each crêpe to make them even more thin.  Mine were a little thick and I like my crêpes paper thin and a little more on the dry side.  That’s just me.  Maybe you like yours moist and eggy.  For my next batch, I’ll add just a tiny bit more milk because thinner batter will make thinner crêpes.

Just because I assume all bloggers must have spotless kitchens and super organized cooking methods because the pictures are never messy, I’m sharing with you my very messy crêpe workstation.  It is humbling.

Happy summer! We’re off to the beach again today, where we will basically live until further notice because it is cool, a mile away, beautiful, and a place where an energetic toddler can run his little heart out.

Bon appétit!