Foodie Friday: Fruity Nutella Crepes

 I know crepes can be rather intimidating since they are so thin and delicate, but with a study hand they are really quite simple to make. I used the follow recipe for my crepe batter:

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 tablespoon butter melted

First you will need to sift the dry ingredients together and set them aside. Next you will beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla together. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet and then whisk in the melted butter. You should have a thin, smooth, lump free batter. Something like this



Many recipes I have seen suggest that you refrigerate the batter for at least an hour, but I don’t. It might be a little easier to work with, so you might want to try it. But as for me:



To cook the crepes you need to have a good nonstick pan. This is a must because if the crepes stick to the pan at all they will rip, and nobody wants to rip their crepes!! Once again I used my handy-dany nonstick wok since it is pretty much the only nonstick pan I own. ;)

You will need to heat your pan on a medium setting. You will want to get the pan hot, but if you get it too hot it will cook too fast and trap bubbles in your batter. Bubbles in your batter gives you small holes in your crepes and small holes in your crepes will be messy!! Trust me on this one. 

Depending on the size of your pan add 1/4-1/3 cup of batter to the bottom of the hot pan and swirl it around to evenly disperse the batter. Since these are so thin they will cook rather quickly so keep an eye on it. Once the edges start to brown a bit very carefully flip the crepe over. Take care not to let the crepe fold over onto itself or it will stick together and will be more difficult to work with.

   
Once you get your crepe flipped leave it on the second side for no longer then a minute or so. The crepe is mostly cooked through at this point so you are only browning the second side so you don’t need to leave it there very long.



Yes, if you look closely I did, in fact, rip my crepe. *Hanging my head in shame*. It happens.
Now that you have your crepe cooked it’s time to fill them with some yummy goodness. Today I used a very over ripe smashed banana, strawberry preserves, and nutella, since this is a favorite among my brood.



Since the crepes are very thin you want to take care not to over fill them. Not only will this be messy and increase the risk of ripping your crepe, it will also over bare the flavor of the crepe it self.

I start by putting a very thin layer of nutella on half of the crepe. Do this with care, as the nutella can stick a bit and , yep you guessed it rip the crepes. Are you noticing a theme here? For heaven sake do not rip your crepes!! And please ignore that rip there in my crepe MMmmm-k?



Next I put about half a tablespoon of the smash banana on top of the nutella, and follow that with about a teaspoon of my strawberry preserves.



Normally I just roll my crepes up, but today I decided to attempt the “crepe fold” so that we could eat them without a fork. To do this you first fold the crepe in half, then you take both outer edges and fold them to meet in the center. Then to eat it you just fold it in half again, along the seem where the 2 halves meet and enjoy!!


Here is one more shot with all the filling oozing out. Yes, I may have overfilled them a bit. How do you think I know not to do these things? :)



One thing I love about crepes is that they are so versatile. I usually make them as a sweet breakfast, but you could always fill them with some chicken and spinach, or ham and cheese for a savory meal as well.

Next week I will be finishing up my breakfast theme with some baked donuts, so make sure you check back for it!

Do you prefer sweet or savory crepe? What is your favorite filling? I’m always looking for new ideas.