Four Easy Crepe Recipes For Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert!

What are Crepes?

Looking for something easy to eat and easy on the pocket? Look no further than crepes!

An unassuming street food, crepes are versatile and filling, making this French staple one of the most popular food choices in the US. Crepes are paper-thin and delicate pancakes made of flour, melted butter, eggs, milk, salt, water, and sometimes, sugar. They are filled often with sweet or savory mixtures.

Sweet crepes were traditionally filled with sugar and lemon, though now, a wider range of fillings are used. These include nut spreads, berries, jams and preserves, nuts, whipped cream, cream cheese, ice-cream, poached pears drizzled with dark chocolate, and salted caramel. Savory crepes, on the other hand, traditionally used eggs, ham, and cheese as fillings. While these are still in vogue, newer ingredients for savory crepe fillings include asparagus, spinach, avocado, mushrooms, chicken, bacon, smoked salmon, turkey, steak, and different cheeses.

Crepes can be folded into a wrap, or the edges may curl up, which explains their nomenclature. The name 'crepe' originates from the Old French word 'crespe', which in turn traces back to the Latin word 'crispus', meaning curled. The delectable French dessert Crepes Suzette, for instance, is prepared by folding the crepes in four and soaking them in an orange liqueur-flavored syrup. Crepes can be gussied up with sauces, toppings, and syrups. They are delicious when eaten plain too.

There are cafes that specialize in crepes, and these are called creperies. Crepes are also dished out at special crepe food trucks.

The Perfect Crepe Recipe for Breakfast- Thin Breakfast Crepes

Ingredients-

• 1 cup (150 g) all-purpose unbleached flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of milk
• 1 tablespoon of melted unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) of vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt
• Softened butter for cooking

1. Mix the sugar, flour, and salt in a bowl. Whisk in half a cup (125 ml) of milk, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the remaining milk slowly, stirring constantly. Whisk in the melted unsalted butter.
2. Heat a non stick skillet measuring 9 inches over a medium flame. Brush the hot skillet with some softened butter.
3. Pour around 3 tablespoons of batter in the middle of the skillet to make a crepe. Tilt the pan, evenly spreading the batter till it covers the entire skillet bottom.
4. Using a spatula, flip the crepe when the edges start to brown and easily peel off. Continue cooking the crepe for 10 seconds until it cooks through. Remove from the pan.
5. Place the crepes on a platter and cover them with aluminum foil in order to prevent them from drying and also to keep them warm. Serve with blueberry sauce or maple syrup.

The Perfect Crepe Recipe for Lunch- Chicken Florentine Crepes

Ingredients-

• 1 chicken boneless and skinless breast
• 4 coconut flour crepes
• 3/4 cup of cooked fresh or frozen spinach
• 1/2 cup (50g) of grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons of cream (heavy/whipping)
• 1 cup (113g) of grated Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
• 2 ounces of butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Heat butter on a medium flame in a frying pan.
3. Cut the chicken into small pieces and cook for around 7 minutes in the frying pan.
4. Add spinach and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the cream, seasoning, half the Mozzarella and the Parmesan cheese. Stir till the cheeses melt. Remove from the source of heat.
6. Place the coconut flour crepes on a kitchen board and distribute the chicken mixture equally among them. Roll gently up like a cannoli. Apply butter to a baking dish and place the crepes on the dish. Sprinkle with the remaining Mozzarella cheese.
7. Bake the crepes for 15 minutes till the cheese melts.

The Perfect Crepe Recipe for Dinner- Summer Vegetable Crepes

Ingredients-

• 1/3 cup of reduced-fat sour cream
• 3 tablespoons of low-fat milk
• 1/2 cup of chopped fresh chives (divided). Additional chives for garnishing
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin Olive Oil
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt (divided)
• 2 cups of chopped zucchini
• 1 cup of fresh corn kernels
• 1 1/4 cups of green beans (chopped)
• 1 cup of part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup of shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 4 ready-to-use crepes measuring 9 inches each

1. This is one of the best crepe Dinner Recipes we've come across. For this, stir sour cream, milk, 1/4 cup of chives, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and lemon juice in a small bowl until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Set them aside.
2. Heat oil over a medium-high flame in a big non stick skillet. Add corn and Fresh Produce like green beans and zucchini, and cook for 6-8 minutes while stirring till the ingredients start to turn brown.
3. Lower the heat. Stir in ricotta cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and salt, and the remaining 1/4 cup of chives.
4. Cook for 1-2 minutes, gently stirring, till the cheese melts. Remove the vegetable-cheese mixture from the heat.
5. For rolling the crepes, place one on a piece of wax paper or parchment. Alternatively, you may leave the crepe on the piece of plastic that separates the crepes in the packet.
6. Place one-fourth (or 3/4 cup) of the cheese-vegetable mixture along the middle of the crepe. Using plastic or paper, roll the crepe gently around the crepe filling.
7. Put the crepe on a plate seam-side down. Repeat the process with the remaining filling and crepes.
8. Top each crepe with more chives, if required, and 2 tablespoons of the reserved sauce. Serve.

The Perfect Crepe Recipe for Dessert- Simple Dessert Crepes

Ingredients-

• 4 lightly beaten eggs
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups of milk
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of white sugar

1. In a big bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, all-purpose flour, sugar, melted butter, and salt until smooth.
2. Heat a crepe pan or medium-sized skillet over a medium flame. Grease the pan by applying a small quantity of oil or butter with a brush.
3. Place around 3 tablespoons of crepe batter on the hot pan using a small ladle or serving spoon. Tilt the pan so that the bottom gets evenly coated with the batter.
4. Cook each side of the crepe for 1-2 minutes until it turns golden brown. Serve hot.

History of Crepes

The first crepe is believed to have been made in the 13th century. As the legend goes, a housewife in France's Brittany ended up dribbling some thin porridge onto a flat, hot cooktop accidentally. Averse to wasting food, she ate what she had not planned to prepare, and the crepe was born.

Another account links crepes to buckwheat, an ancient grain introduced in the Brittany area around the 12th century. According to this story, porridge made of buckwheat was accidentally spilled and the result was a crispy, thin dish -- the crepe.

Traditionally, savory fillings are served with buckwheat crepes. Wheat crepes, which are flavored more delicately, are served with sweet, fruity fillings. In the Middle Ages, when the supply of milk fell, a wine-water mixture was used as a replacement. People in Brittany still lean towards crepes that are made of local buckwheat flour and look down on crepes made of white flour.

The US had to wait till the 19th century to be introduced to the crepe. They were brought in by the French settler Henri Charpentier, who had migrated to New York and set up a restaurant named Original Henri Restaurant and Bar.

Crepes came to be established even more firmly in the US around 2001, with Japanese pastry chef Emy Wada, who had been a student in France. introducing a mille crepe cake at her Lady M Boutique bakery in New York City. Mille crepe literally means 'a thousand crepes' and in reality consists of around 20 crepes that are layered with pastry cream.

How are Crepes Different From American Pancakes?

Crepes are similar to American-style pancakes, and are in fact considered thin pancakes. Both are made of batter containing milk, flour, and eggs, but they are not entirely similar.

American pancakes are fluffy and thick, whereas crepes are thinner and wider. Crepes are also bigger in size than pancakes. The difference in size and thickness arises in part from the process of cooking.

Both pancakes and crepes involve batter being poured onto a pan. However, the batter used for pancakes is poured out in the form of small circles that tend to puff up, whereas the batter for crepes is spread all across the pan so that the crepes assume the width and size of the pan itself and become highly thin.

Another point of difference is in the ingredients used for the two dishes. While pancake fillings containing extra ingredients like chocolate chips, bananas, and blueberries, are added to the batter itself and cooked within the pancake, savory and sweet fillings are sandwiched between crepes that are rolled or folded.

The most important difference between pancakes and crepes, though, is that the batter used for pancakes contains raising agents like baking soda or Baking Powder unlike the batter used for making crepes. This gives pancakes their fluffy character, while crepes are flat and thin.

Moreover, you can allow pancake batter a resting time of a few minutes before cooking, while crepe batter has to be rested for an hour to an entire day, so that starch molecules in the flour can absorb more liquid.