Crêpes — Made-To-Order Recipe Series

The All Purpose Kitchen Made-To-Order recipe series presents foundational recipes with multiple variations. The standard Made-To-Order recipe serves as a basic formula that can then be customized. In the case of these recipes, there are way too many delicious flavor profiles for me to present every option. I’ll always give a few of my own favorite preparations, but I highly encourage you to go off script and use the recipe to create your own favorite meal, exactly the way you like it — Made-To-Order.

Crêpes were the first recipe that I ever learned to make, so it seems fitting that it would be the first Made-To-Order recipe that I post here at The All Purpose Kitchen. When I was growing up crêpes held the niche of pancakes in our house, thanks to my mom’s French Canadian roots. They were a fixture of our weekend breakfasts, and personally I think they should be in every household’s rotation. This recipe is super easy to make, and so customizable — I dare you to exhaust the flavors and ingredients that you can add to crêpes. That’s exactly why crêpes make for a perfect Made-To-Order recipe. Here I’ll give you my family recipe for the batter, passed down for generations, a handy-dandy infographic, and some of my favorite combinations of fillings and toppings, but by all means I encourage you to experiment with the flavors that speak to you. What are you waiting for? Go forth and eat crêpes!

The Beauty of Crêpes

In case you’re not already convinced that crêpes are for you, the virtues of this delicious recipe are as easy to find as the recipe is to make. Now I can write about the beauty of crêpes at length, but I’ll try to keep things concise. The first and most important attribute is how easy crêpes are to make. The batter comes together with a simple combination of wet and dry ingredients like most pancake recipes, but there are no whipped egg whites, browned butter, ricotta, extracts or zests. That’s because the additional complexity of crêpes comes from the toppings, which leads me to the next attribute. 

Crêpes are endlessly versatile and customizable. They can serve as a vessel  for nearly any ingredient or flavor that you can think of. Whereas pancakes are doughy and filling before you’ve even added any toppings, with crêpes there’s plenty of space for all the toppings you could want. If you’re the sort of person who likes your pie with extra filling, or cake with extra frosting — you know who you are — then crêpes are the perfect recipe to increase that ratio of toppings, or should I say the perfect excuse to eat extra nutella. If you are in it for the pastry though, then a simple sprinkle of sugar or drizzle of maple syrup works wonders as well — like I said, “so customizable”.

Not only are crêpes ready for any flavor, but they’re also ready for any time of day or location, truly all purpose. The tender dough of crêpes readily accommodates sweet or savory fillings, making them an easy option for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or snack. There is no wrong time for a crêpe! I particularly love making one batch of crêpe batter and using it to make breakfast, dinner and dessert crêpes at various times throughout the week. Depending on your preference, store leftover batter or cook all your crêpes in advance, either will last for up to a week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. 

Since crêpes can be stored so easily, it also means that they can be packed easily. For a picnic or road trip, crêpes offer a fun alternative to a sandwich, and with multiple smaller portions they may even be more practical and portable. If you end up with a bunch of extra crêpes you can even build a crêpe bar complete with all the fixings, or make a showstopping crêpe cake. 

Last but certainly not least, who can deny that crêpes evoke romantic notions of strolling through Paris. Even if you haven’t had the pleasure and luxury of visiting Paris yourself, French culture and gastronomy have such far-reaching influence around the world that you’ve certainly encountered them at one time or another. Whether it’s classic bistro seating, espresso on a cafe patio, a baguette from the local boulangerie, a picnic in a beautifully manicured public garden, or most definitely a hole in the wall crêpe stand on nearly every block, romanticized images of Paris feel familiar. Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of crêpes then, is their ability to transport us to the city of love. They’re certainly cheaper than a plane ticket.

The Process

The Batter

You’re in luck! Making crêpes is a simple, straight forward process, and with countless options for toppings that require no preparation, you can be enjoying crêpes in no time. Jump ahead for a standard cookbook-style recipe layout, or follow along here to make the recipe with me step by step. 

First melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small microwave safe bowl. I like to use 30 second intervals with the microwave at 50% power. If you’re planning on making the crêpes immediately, you can also use the non-stick skillet that you’ll be using to make the crêpes to melt the butter. Set the butter aside to cool slightly and pull out a medium mixing bowl for the dry ingredients. Whisk together all of the dry ingredients — 1 cup (5 oz) all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon baking powder. In a large mixing bowl whisk one egg and 1 ¼ cup whole milk. Low-fat and dairy-free milk will work fine as well.

Using a fine mesh strainer, sift half of the dry ingredients over the wet mixture, and whisk the batter to combine until a few dry streaks remain. Repeat the sifting process with the rest of the dry ingredients, and whisk again until mostly combined. Add the melted butter to the batter, and whisk gently until the batter is smooth and uniform. 

Unlike most batters, you don’t have to worry too much about over mixing. Typically over mixing risks developing additional gluten structure, which makes a dough stiff and chewy. However, since crêpe batter is defined by it’s high liquid ratio, the additional moisture inhibits the development of extra gluten.

Some might also find it odd that there is baking powder, a leavener, in a crêpe recipe, which is defined by characteristically thin results. The high liquid ratio in the batter ensures that the batter spreads freely enough to make a perfectly thin crêpe. Meanwhile, the baking powder provides just enough rise to provide structure to the crêpe. This small lift of the dough traps moisture resulting in a tender and delicious confection. Without the baking powder, the crêpe turns dry and overly crispy. 

Cooking

The most important thing when you get to actually cooking your crêpes is a good non-stick skillet. If all you have is a pan that’s prone to sticking, then you can kiss your crêpe-making aspirations goodbye, because you’ll end up with scrambled crêpe — I’ve been there. 

Next, it may take a crêpe or two to dial in the ideal cooking temperature. What is most likely to happen is that your first crêpe may look a little pale, which isn’t a huge deal. The best way to avoid this is to take a few extra minutes to make sure that your pan is fully and evenly preheated. If you’re not in a hurry, I like to set the pan over medium-low heat for 3 minutes before increasing the heat to medium for 2 minutes and adding butter. It’s important to note that every stove is a little different. If as you’re cooking your crêpes are looking very pale or burning quickly, feel free to adjust the burner temperature. Make sure to make small incremental adjustments so that you don’t seesaw back and forth between too hot and too cold. 

Once your pan is preheated, I recommend a little butter to help prevent sticking, for flavor, and to test the pan temperature. Ideally, the butter will sizzle and brown in about 30 seconds. When adding the batter to the pan, lift the pan above the burner, and use a ladle or ¼-cup dry measuring cup to add the batter to the center of the pan. Then tilt the pan in a swirling circular motion to disperse the batter to the edges of the pan. If there are still some bare spots in the pan, you can add a little batter to the holes and tilt the pan again to help even it out. 

Alternatively if you have one of these nifty little crêpe tools, you can spread your crêpe batter across the pan with a flick of the wrist. To use a crêpe spreader, add the crêpe batter to the center of the pan; then leaving one end of the dowel centered in the middle of the crêpe, drag the spreader across the top of the batter in a circular motion to spread the batter outwards over the surface of the pan. Avoid applying any downward pressure as you use the spreader. The weight of the dowel alone is enough to spread the top layer of batter. Pushing downwards will tear a hole in your crêpe, or produce a crêpe that is too thin and turns crispy. 

Once the batter is spread across the surface of a non-stick pan, I find that it takes about 2 minutes for the first side of the crêpe to cook if the pan is properly preheated. To judge the doneness of the crêpe by sight, the top of the crêpe will look dry and the edges will begin to brown. The underside of the crêpe should look golden brown. Feel free to peek under the crêpe to check the color — you should easily be able to slide a spatula underneath. 

When the time is right, slide a spatula as far under the crêpe as you can, and in one motion lift and flip the crêpe over. Flipping crêpes is even easier than flipping pancakes because the crêpe is essentially fully cooked already and only needs to brown slightly on the second side. This means that there’s no wet batter left that can shift in the flipping process; the crêpes are sturdy unlike certain buttermilk pancakes; and if the crêpe is folded over you can still maneuver it to lay flat since, once again, there is no wet batter to fuse the folds together. After flipping the crêpe, let it cook one minute longer until the second side is spotty brown, and it’s good to go! Now that you have the process down, you can use this infographic as a quick reference for making crêpes. Read on below for more on storing, serving and filling your crêpes.

Storing and reheating

Now that we have our batter, there are multiple options. You can store the batter in the refrigerator overnight, or up to one week. This is my preference. I find that letting the batter rest overnight develops extra flavor, much like letting a bread dough rise overnight, and adds a little extra complexity to the crêpes. By no means is this an essential step, and if scheduling is an issue, or if you’re about to enjoy some spur of the moment crêpes, I guarantee you’ll still love every bite. 

The next option is whether you plan to serve your crêpes immediately as they finish cooking, or if you plan to store them. To store the crêpes, stack them on a parchment-lined baking sheet as they finish cooking, and let them cool completely. Then slide them all into a ziplock bag or other airtight container. Don’t worry about separating each crêpe with parchment. As long as they are properly cooled, they will not stick to each other. The crêpes can then be stored for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer. To rewarm the crêpes, stack them on a microwave safe plate, cover with a damp paper towel, and microwave in 30-second intervals until warm to the touch.

Filling

Finally, if you’re serving your crêpes right away or if you’ve rewarmed your pre-made crêpes, you can decide whether to serve them plain with toppings on the side, or if you’ll be filling the crêpes as part of the cooking process. Fillings that should be added during the cooking process include ingredients that benefit from being fully heated through, that need to melt, or that cook inside the crêpe, such as nutella, cheese or eggs. Add your ingredients to one side of the crêpe immediately after flipping it, then fold the crêpe in half over the filling. Continue cooking the folded crêpe for about 1 minute. Flip the crêpe over a final time and cook until the filling is fully melted or set, about 1 minute. 

If you’re rewarming premade crêpes and also filling them as part of the cooking process, follow the same process described above to warm them in the microwave — 30 seconds, covered with a damp paper towel. Keep the stack of crêpes under the paper towel. Transfer one crêpe at a time to a non-stick skillet over medium heat, and immediately fill it following the same process described above for filling fresh crêpes.

6 Recipes To Choose From

So now that you know how to make, store and fill crêpes, here are a few suggestions for what ingredients to pair with them. As promised, there are a wide range of toppings, from simple no-preparation options to an elaborate crêpe cake. Of course there are both sweet and savory options, because crêpes belong on the menu no matter the time of day. And again, I encourage you to take this crêpe batter recipe and run with it — go nuts (literally, nuts and nut butters are great pairings). Throw any ingredient that you think is delicious on those crêpes. Without any further ado:

• Crêpes with Fresh Berries and Maple Syrup
• Crêpes with Nutella and Banana
• Crêpes with Brown Sugar and Bourbon Peaches
• Crêpes with Egg, Cheddar and Sautéed Spinach
• Parmesan Crêpes with Pesto, Sun-Dried Tomato, Mozzarella and Prosciutto
• Crêpe Cake with Maple Buttercream

Suggested Recipes

• Crêpes with Fresh Berries and Maple Syrup
• Crêpes with Nutella and Banana
• Crêpes with Brown Sugar and Bourbon Peaches
• Crêpes with Egg, Cheddar and Sautéed Spinach
• Parmesan Crêpes with Pesto, Sun-Dried Tomato, Mozzarella and Prosciutto
• Crêpe Cake with Maple Buttercream
• Crêpe Recipe Infographic