Blueberry crepes

As you may have noticed, this year I am spending my Labor Day weekend in the kitchen! I have four days in a row off and it has been so relaxing. The only problem is that I keep creating dirty dishes.

I woke up this morning and immediately thought of the fresh blueberries I bought yesterday. My first instinct was to make blueberry pancakes, but I knew pancakes would result in a carb coma that could lead to a very lazy day. Crepes seemed to be the answer.

Ingredients: 

Filling:

1 pint blueberries

2 t sugar

3-4 T water

Crepes:

2 eggs
6 T all-purpose flour
2 t sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
2/3 cup milk or almond milk
2 t coconut oil*

Topping:

1 pint heavy cream

2 t sugar

*Some other sort of oil would probably be OK, but I've always used coconut oil for my crepes for some odd reason.

Combine blueberries, sugar, and a small amount of water (3-4 tablespoons) in a saucepan on low to medium heat. Cover and cook until desired sauce-like consistency (about 5-10 minutes) stirring often. A small amount of corn starch could probably help thicken the berries, but I didn't have any. Leave on low heat and stir occasionally while cooking crepes. Leaving the lid off at this point will also help the sauce thicken as water evaporates.

Make whipped cream before starting the crepes. In mixing bowl, beat heavy cream on high setting until it forms peaks and is whipped-cream consistency. Be careful not to over-beat the cream or you will get butter! Add sugar and mix minimally. Taste the whipped cream to test the flavor; you might like more sugar than I do. Set aside.

Homemade whipped cream is soooo good, and you avoid all those weird chemicals! 

Combine all crepe ingredients in a blender and mix well. Heat a medium-sized frying pan to medium/medium-high heat (on my electric stove, the line between medium and medium-high is the perfect setting for crepes). Allow the pan to heat well before adding batter. Spray a small amount of non-stick spray before each crepe to help with clean and easy flipping.

Add a thin layer of batter to fill the pan, using a large spoon to spread the batter and even out the crepe. Allow to cook until there is no more liquid batter visible.

Use a rubber spatula (not a stiff one that you would use to flip pancakes) to loosen the edges, working the spatula under half of the crepe and flipping quickly. Don't feel bad if your first crepe doesn't flip properly; I ruined a few crepes the first time I made them before I got the technique down.

A perfect flip!

Spoon a line of blueberry filling into the center of the crepe. I strained out some of the liquid because my sauce was a little thin. Use the spatula to fold the crepe in thirds over the berries.

I always find the trickiest part is getting the crepe out of the pan without destroying it. Hold the pan at an angle over a plate, work the spatula under the front edge of the crepe, and slide it onto the plate, using your spatula as a guide.

This recipe makes four crepes. If you have extra batter, cook the crepes without filling and layer with parchment paper in between. Wrap in tin foil to keep from drying out. I'm not sure how long they will last in the refrigerator; mine will certainly not last more than 24 hours because someone will eat them.

 

Berry and Cream Crepes

Today I felt like being creative in the kitchen, but it was HOT in Cleveland - 93 degrees last time I checked. With an abundance of frozen fruit in my freezer (usually destined for smoothies), I decided crepes would involve the least amount of time standing over a stove.


I encountered a few problems immediately - I only had two eggs left, I was out of milk, and getting more of either involved going out into that ungodly heat. After some research and substitutions, I came up with the recipe below, which worked surprisingly well. I will not post my disastrous attempt at strawberry filling; instead, I merely suggest you use fresh strawberries to fill this crepe and top with either whipped cream or the mascarpone topping listed below.

Crepe soup, anyone?

Ingredients:


2 eggs
6 T all-purpose flour
2 t sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
2/3 cup milk (I substituted vanilla almond milk)
2 t coconut oil


Mix the above ingredients together in a blender; blend until smooth.


Topping:


1 12-oz container mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 T honey


Mix mascarpone and honey together in a bowl until smooth.


Heat a medium-sized nonstick frying pan on a little higher than medium heat. The heat level will vary by stove, so use your judgement. Be patient and let your pan get hot before you start.


Most recipes say to use a small amount of butter to grease the pan, but I found this made my crepe too flimsy, greasy, and very difficult to flip. On my second crepe, I used a dry pan, and it worked far better.


Pour enough batter into the pan to almost fill the pan with a very thin layer. Working quickly, use a tablespoon to spread batter throughout the pan and to thin out thick spots.

When crepe is almost cooked through, work a large spatula carefully under the edges and flip quickly. This may take a few tries to get the technique down; don't be discouraged if your first one falls apart or end up hanging halfway out of the pan (yep, I did that).

Yeah! A successful flip!

Spoon some berries into a line in the center and use the spatula to fold over the sides so that it looks like a burrito. Some people prefer to just fold in half, but I found it is easier to get the crepe out of the pan if it is folded in thirds. Don't overfill the crepe, or this will happen when you try to fold it:

I still can't believe I actually got this out of the pan without making a mess

My advice on successfully removing a crepe from the frying pan is this: pick up the frying pan and hold it over a plate. Tilt the frying pan and use the spatula to guide the crepe onto the plate. This works far better than trying to lift the whole crepe with a spatula and move it to the plate without falling apart.

The only one that made it to the plate intact

Top with a few dollops of the mascarpone topping. I tried putting the mascarpone on the inside, but it melted quickly, creating the soupy mess that you see above. Makes 2-4 crepes, depending on how large you make them and how many you accidentally destroy.

References:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Banana-Orange-Crepes-109044