Did Shrove Tuesday just ‘crepe up’ on you?
This crepe batter recipe will be sufficient for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two adults and a baby who eats like a hungry toddler. You can make the batter one day ahead. To serve the baby, I applied a very thin layer of Nutella or peanut butter. It was quite entertaining to eat our crepes while we watch Art annihilate a crepe, with the very few teeth he’s got.
The history behind Shrove Tuesday (otherwise known amicably as Fat Tuesday) has Christian roots. It is essentially a huge indulgent feast before the 40 days of fasting begins on Ash Wednesday.
Preparing each crepe will take some patience unless you had two frying pans going on. Making crepes is a fun weekend project! 1/8 tsp salt works out to be a micro-pinch of salt.
Tasty Crepes Tips and Tricks
None of my crepes were perfectly round. That is okay as long as they were properly cooked. The trick is to use a light non-stick frying pan. Use a ladle with a pointed spout to spread the batter evenly on the pan; the ideal amount of batter to put in the ladle is about 3 tablespoons’ worth. Important tip: control the heat (by removing the pan from the heat while spreading the batter) so that you don’t end up with burnt crepes. (I used a cast iron skillet, which is my often go to. Let’s just say that was a good wrist work out!) The final tip is to plan ahead when it comes to making crepes. The minimum amount of time to rest your crepe batter is one hour at room temperature. This step is important because it will allow time for the flour to absorb the eggs, milk and butter. You can also cling wrap the bowl of batter to keep overnight in the fridge. If you planned to fry crepes ahead of time, you can freeze the crepes for up to a month in the freezer. Easy freezer meals for the oven? Yes!
Now, to make sweet or savoury crepes is completely up to you! We found that we really like to roll our crepes up after spreading our fillings. Taco-style is also fun. I filled mushroom, grilled chicken, spinach and cheese on each crepe for dinner, taco or burrito style, to be baked in a 350°F oven for half an hour.
Dig in after drizzling your crepe with Canadian maple syrup.
- Sift flour, sugar and salt into a medium bowl. Use a fork or your fingers to make a reservoir (or a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients).
- Gently beat the eggs using a whisk to incorporate the yolks and white evenly.
- Alternate between adding beaten eggs and milk in three parts; stirring with a whisk to incorporate the flour mixture.
- Add melted butter last. If making savoury crepes, you can opt to add fresh herbs during this step.
- Rest the batter for at least an hour or refrigerate overnight for use the next day.
- To fry each crepe, turn the heat to medium-high. Add 1 tbsp of cooking oil and tip the pan to evenly coat the oil and warm up the pan.
Have a ladle of 3 tablespoonfuls of batter ready.
Remove frying pan from heat. Angle the pan at a 30 degree tilt. Drop the batter with one hand and use the other hand holding the pan's handle and swiftly tilt the pan in all directions to evenly coat the batter in a swirling circular motion (before the batter cooks fully in the hot pan). - Return the pan to heat. Cook each crepe until the bottom is browned. Then, turn carefully to the other side for 5 seconds. Remove the crepe with a spatula to a plate of stacked crepes. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you have finished the crepe batter.