Country and Corgis: Oh Crepes

While we were relaxing on the gorgeous, secluded, absolutely relaxing Serenity Beach the hubs and I got hungry for a snack.

We popped into the beach snack shack, Coconut Grill, and were surprised to find a little creperie attached called Oh Crepes. Obvi that is what I wanted for a snack. If you've never been to the Caribbean it's a good thing to know that their chocolate is nothing like ours. Milk chocolate is hard to find, and theirs isn't even like dark chocolate. It's hard to describe if you've never had it. Also, peanut butter isn't really a thing down there. Right there my list of favorite crepe toppings has been severely diminished (top 5 are Nutella, bananas, strawberries, melted chocolate, and peanut butter). But to my surprise they had peanut butter! Not only that, they made an Elvis crepe (peanut butter and bananas in a crepe). That's what the hubs had, and it was awesome. I opted for the tropical crepe. Mine was filled with pineapple, nuts, and a caramel sauce. It was ok.

Now that we're home, I have been CRAVING crepes made the true French way (thanks French food Fridays!). I like savory crepes, and the Americanized sweet crepe (aka: nutella!!). So for dinner that's what I did. I made a roasted mushroom and onion crepe, ham and cheese crepe, and nutella and banana crepe. Can you believe that in 4 years of being together, I've never made Ethan crepes? Preposterous I know.

The recipe is pretty simple. I've been using Alton Brown's version for years without fail. It consists of:
2 large eggs
3/4 c of milk
1/2 c water
1 c flour
3 Tbsp melted butter
Plus some additional butter for coating the pan.

Do crepes seem scary to you? They shouldn't. The recipe consists of things you have in your pantry right now. Do you think you need some special pan and an oddly shaped wooden thing to thin it out? I've never used either of those things and my crepes turn out amazing. If you've never tried them, you definitely should!

So anywho. You take the above listed ingredients and put them all in a blender. Pulse the blender for about 10 seconds. My blender's automatic setting is 12 seconds. Since I don't want to fuck with changing that around, I just go with it and everything turns out fine. Alton recommends chilling the batter in the fridge for an hour. This helps the bubbles work themselves out, theoretically making your crepes less likely to tear. If you have an hour, great. Go for it. I'm typically so excited for crepes that I go balls to the walls and just start cooking them.

I just use a regular skillet to make mine. I turn the heat up on high and let my pan get really hot before I get started. Then before I grease the pan I turn the heat down to medium. I just swirl my stick of butter on the surface of the pan, about how large I want my crepe to be. Then I pour about a 1/4c of the batter into the pan, then immediately swirl it around until I have about a 6in circle.

WARNING! Your first crepe will not turn out. Not your first crepe you've ever made. The first crepe of every batch will not turn out. They never, ever do. I'm sure you're sitting here reading thinking "I'm prepared. I'm going to prove you wrong. I chilled my batter for an hour, and my first crepe is going to be perfect." Let me save you the time and tell you that you are wrong. Madame Slomkowski taught me that it was good luck to feed the dog your first bad crepe. That's what I've been doing for years! The dogs love it.

Crepes are not like pancakes, in the sense that pancakes bubble when they're ready to be flipped. You will be able to see the crepe cooking. When the middle is almost completely cooked, it's time to flip. I like to spray my spatula with a little Pam to help it from sticking. Cook on the other side for about a minute. The crepe should be tan, with little spots of brown.

This recipe will make approximately 8-10 crepes, depending on how thin you make them. Once they're all cooked, it's time to fill them. Crepes basically taste like an unlevened pancake-ish. They don't really taste like much on their own. Which is great, cuz then you can fill them with all sorts of delicious things. Play around, sweet or savory. The world is your oyster.