living in the woods and making stuff

My mom came over this morning with a bowl of crepe batter, a bowl of sugar, her crepe pan, and a bundle of packages wrapped in recycled wrapping paper. I have to say that I have the best mother EVER!!

So we made crepes for breakfast. With sugar and lemon juice. Very simple and delicious. My grampa used to make crepes like that, and also that is how my mom has had them in Germany (and my grampa is German, so maybe there is a connection!).

The crepe batter (she used the recipe from Joy of Cooking) is made using eggs, flour, water, milk, butter, and salt. It is fine to leave some of the lumps, as they work their way out. We used her crepe pan, which is carbon steel, made in France, as well as my pan, which is a cast iron griddle. Kind of a crepe off, to test which pan worked better. We decided that we liked the texture of the crepes from her pan, although the heat was better in my pan. She isn’t used to my stove, so her pan ended up getting a little too hot. (Might be a stove thing more than a pan thing.)

First, place a little oil in the pan. I like to swish it around with a pastry brush instead of paper towel (I don’t actually have any paper towel…). When the pan is hot, not smoking, pour in the batter and swirl the pan around so that the batter evenly coats the bottom of the pan. We used about a 1/2 cup or so of batter per crepe (I think).

A nicely “swished” crepe, waiting to be turned. You can see that it is cooking nicely by looking at the bubbles on the edges. It is good to remember here that the first crepe often turns out a little funky. Just like pancakes. You need to make sure the temperature is correct, and work out any kinks in timing, amount of oil etc. Then things generally smooth out and work well.

Let the crepe cook, until the first side is golden. Flip crepe carefully, using a spatula to lift up the edges.

Cook the second side of the crepe, and then place finished crepe on a plate (this plate can be warmed, or placed in a low oven to keep crepes warm if you are making a large quantity).

When we finished making all the crepes, we sprinkled each crepe with sugar (to taste) and then a squeeze of lemon juice. My mom folds them in half and then in half again.

We ate our crepes at the table with some coffee and a jar of apple sauce!