This is our crazy indulgence!
I love crepes. I first had a crepe at Perkins Family Restaurants a long time ago... and then they took them off the menu.
No more crepes for Ruthy!!!
But when my oldest two were starting college I saw a sale for this Betty Crocker cookbook:
I bought three.... One for each of them and one for me, and I have loved this book ever since! So many good recipes inside! Old favorites (Deluxe sugar cookies/Mary's sugar cookies in the old book and simply "Sugar Cookies" in this one)... Snickerdoodles... Soft molasses cookies....(which make great holiday Whoopie Pies, but we'll talk about that another day!)
And inside there was a recipe for crepes!!! Oh, hallelujah! Recipe for crepes here!!!!
The fillings can be store-bought but I like to make my own. Basic fruit fillings for crepes can be done with fresh fruit but I like to use a "thinned" pie filling style.....
BASIC FRUIT FILLING RECIPE FOR CREPE FILLING
4 cups fruit (frozen berries, chopped apples, chopped peaches, etc.)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
Heat fruit and water in covered saucepan on stove until hot and tender. (apples take a few minutes....)
Mix sugar and flour together. For apples add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg to flour/sugar mixture.
Mix dry ingredients and butter into hot fruit, reduce heat and stir until smooth.... thin with hot water if desired. (I thinned the above pic for the crepes... I wanted the apple mix dry-ish for strudel, but then I thinned it out with hot water to make it more syrupy for the crepes)
Fill crepes as you make them.
Top with additional fruit and/or whipped cream.
This is a fancy, delightful way to start our days of celebration! We don't indulge in these on other days because then they wouldn't be as special. And note the fancy paper plate, LOL! We knew we'd have plenty of dishes from dinner.
Thank you, Perkins restaurants and Betty Crocker for the inspiration. You've blessed a family for decades!
And here are the out-of-town guys, in town for the holidays (but not at the same time!)
Two generations of RISK! players... and the board did not get flipped, which might be a record in our house!
And here is finance boy from NYC.... Beth found old-school hand-held electronic games and brought them over.... Yes, this is what video games used to look like, LOL!
We had a wonderful holiday season.... but I'm ready to get back to normal schedules for a while. How about you???
She'd love to hear from you!
I love this tradition!! When I lived in France during high school, we ate crêpes all the time. I was the house crêpier because I loved making them, even though you have to stand there forever. Sort of like making pancakes for a crowd.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason we called the savory ones "galettes" and the sweet ones "crêpes". I think it had something to do with the type of flour?
We'd have them with ham, jelly, or sprinkled with powdered sugar. The batter always had a tiny bit of grated lemon peel in it. There was a crêperie (a stand selling crepes) right outside my middle school. That last class before lunch was a killer because we could smell the crêpes. I was so glad to move to the next school and away from that vendor!
I make them now, too, but I've never been able to find the right kind of pan. The one I used there was cast iron, round,and flat to the edge. Then there are the tools-- the flat spreader and the flipper, but I've never found ones I like.
Anyway, now I want crêpes!
I use a 9" Revere Ware frying pan. It's the perfect inside dimension, and when I flip them, the sides are just high enough to help. With low sides I flip them onto the fire! OOOPS!!!!
DeleteYou're right about the pan, you need to be one with the pan and the flipper, but I do the pizza flip. I use the spatula to start the turn, then I toss it into the air, twist my wrist and let it fall a few inches into the pan.
Now I must try zest in my recipe!!!
And I have found a bunch of recipes that say not to flip... and I can see that. If you keep the temp low enough and let the crepe sit long enough, it's thin and the top will cook... but it's so much faster to flip! :)
Mary Jane, many years ago I had a crepe pan. It was an enamel frying pan with low sides. I'll bet it's still in a cabinet somewhere.
DeleteA special and beautiful family tradition. I hardly ever make crepes but enjoy eating them. Have a great day Ruthy and stay warm. Light snow here this morning in Illinois.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn, thanks for coming over here!!! Our snow yesterday melted in the rain puddles... and then everything froze with low temps, but the snow stopped. Not much going on here, but perfect book writing time. Kids are back in school, peace reigns! YES!!!! :)
DeleteHAHA. Peace does not reign in the schools! For the very same reason. ;)
DeleteIt's all good though.
Mmmm! Crepes! It's been ages since I've had one!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school, our town had a restaurant that specialized in crepes. I have to admit, I love the savory ones more than the sweet ones. :)
Now I'll have to look up more recipes to use with crepes!
And your family is so much like mine sometimes. Games are always the first choice when it comes to spending an afternoon or evening together. Risk is one of our favorites, but this year we play Rail Baron on Christmas Eve. So much fun, even though I lost. :)
Jan, games were kind of banned around here for a while. Too many flipped boards and illicit alliances and countries ganging up on hapless continents. It was ugly, I tell you! :)
DeleteBut now they get a kick out of playing with the kids and it's funny.... And no flipped boards, so the Blodgett children have matured. Phew! :)
I love savory crepes, too, but I'm the only one. So I never make them. But my favorite ones are the cottage cheese/cream cheese crepes... you mix a half cup or so of cottage cheese with warmed cream cheese... maybe a tablespoon or two.... and then sprinkle it with about a teaspoon or more of cinnamon sugar.... Put in crepe, roll and enjoy.
those were the ones I fell in love with at Perkins... and they're sooooo good!!! :)
We do this too!!!! Birthday crepes, A+ crepes, dog's first birthday crepes...there's always a reason to celebrate. My crepes are probably a bit thicker then they should be but they still fold. Oh and we also drizzle with grated chocolate too.
ReplyDeleteAnd this reminds me that I haven't made cheese blintzes in a long time. Ricotta cheese, slivered almonds, raisins, cinnamon all folded up in a crepe and then baked. Yum. Must see if I can find that recipe again.
Kav, I just mentioned above, doing them with cottage cheese/cream cheese mix but I've never baked the blintzes... do you do cherries with them, too? Or are they separate blintzes?
DeleteI must make these for a party sometime. I'm always afraid that baking them dries them out.
Does it? Can I avoid that?????
Oooohhh....cream cheese. You're giving me ideas. I'll check for the cheese blintz recipe. You fold the crepes up like a burritto -- all tucked in -- and put them on a baking sheet. They're only in the oven for a few minutes -- just enough to warm everything up. But yes, if you leave them too long the corners can get crispy. Still taste really good though. I'll see if I can find the exact time and temp. No cherries...but speaking of...
DeleteBut I did find my recipe for Black Forest Crepes...
1 17 oz cans dark sweet pitted cherries
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup italian almond flavored liqueuer (I've used almond extract too -- only not 1/2 a cup!)
drain cherries, saving 1/3 cup juice. in saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch, stir in the liqueur and cherry juice. Add drained cherries. cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Spoon cherries and sauce over warm crepes. Fold over. top with whipped cream (!) sour cream or plan yoghurt and drizzle with grated chocolate.
Love the crepes; love the games. My daughters love board games. Well, they love to play together with rules they made up. Not sure how it would work to include others.
ReplyDeleteThey have a bunch of games like Rudolf Monopoly that get pulled out every Christmas.