This recipe is part of the Made–To–Order Recipe Series. The Made–To–Order Recipe Series introduces a standard recipe with countless potential variations, along with several suggested preparations to choose from. The standard recipe will equip you with the blueprint and inspiration to customize the recipe to your taste and preferences. After making one of the variations from The All Purpose Kitchen, I encourage you to put your own spin on the recipe and make it yours, Made–To–Order. For an in depth description of the crêpe making process, how to fill crêpes, and how to store crêpes, head over to the Crêpes Made–To–Order Recipe.
I love filling crêpes with plain old brown sugar. Obviously the flavor is deliciously sweet, and has caramel and molasses notes, but It’s especially the crunch of the sugar that I love in the crêpes. The brown sugar provides an exciting textural contrast to the tender crêpes. Even so, it helps to have a component on the plate that adds moisture and that helps to wash everything down. So what goes well with brown sugar? Well, peaches and bourbon sure do!
If you’ve read the Crêpes Made–To–Order Recipe then you’ll know that crêpes go with just about anything. If bourbon peaches aren’t your first choice, then feel free to substitute a bananas foster–style topping, or an apple cinnamon filling, or just fresh fruit. Follow your heart.
For even more crêpe variations, check out these recipes:
- Crêpes Made–To–Order Recipe
- Crêpes with Fresh Berries and Maple Syrup
- Crêpes with Nutella and Banana
- Crêpes with Egg, Cheddar and Sautéed Spinach
- Parmesan Crêpes with Pesto, Sun–Dried Tomato, Mozzarella and Prosciutto
- Crêpe Cake with Maple Buttercream
The Process
A simple peach topping that keeps all the fresh flavor of peaches and comes together in just 15 minutes — yes please! Brown sugar and bourbon amp up the recipe for even more to get excited about. These bourbon peaches are fantastic atop crêpes. They can also instantly elevate oatmeal, ice cream, pancakes, waffles and more. Here’s the simple process:
Toss the peaches with sugar, salt and lemon. Rest for 5 minutes to draw out some of the natural juices.
Simmer for 5 minutes, just long enough to reduce the syrup and soften the peaches while leaving them intact.
Add the bourbon and simmer for 1 minute, stirring constantly, to incorporate and reduce slightly.
The hardest step, wait to devour the peaches until the crêpes are ready.
About the Flavors
Although peaches and bourbon are not a traditional topping for crêpes, they do have deep roots in baking and pastry applications. Therefore, I still advocate that they make a natural pairing for crêpes. The oak, vanilla and baking spice flavors of bourbon pair seamlessly with baked goods and pastry doughs. Brown sugar brings out complementary caramel notes from bourbon, and supercharges the natural sweetness of peaches.
While the combination puts an american spin on crêpes, it also mirrors many flavors from the classic French preparation, crêpes suzette. Crêpes suzette is prepared by arranging crêpes in a sauce of caramelized sugar and fresh orange, and flambéed with orange liqueur, often Grand Marnier. There are obvious parallels to be drawn in the flavors of the two recipes, including the sugar, bright fruit and barrel–aged spirits. I may not suggest the flambé step here — I’m trying to keep the recipe easy and accessible — but if you decide to safely top off your crêpe with some flaming Grand Marnier, or bourbon, you have my full support.
Flavor Theory
When thinking about flavor pairings, there are no hard–and–fast rules. There are common practices, suggestions, traditions, and one could say precedence, but there are always exceptions. Ultimately, if you enjoy what you are eating, no one can tell you that you’re wrong. If you really had to distill the theory to a simple concept, the name of the game is balance.
When developing, seasoning, or just tasting a recipe, I find that complementary flavors tie a dish together, while contrasting flavors develop complexity. Contrasting textures will add intrigue and make a dish more interesting to eat. Evaluating the 5 basic tastes — salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami — determines the overall balance of a dish.
This doesn’t mean that every dish should aim for the same level of balance, otherwise everything would taste like a variation of the same concept. Rather, a recipe can aim to favor certain basic tastes, while still leveraging the others in order to avoid a one note experience. For example, a rich and savory dish still needs just enough acidity so as not to feel overly heavy. Or in the case of these crêpes, adding a little salt keeps the dish from being cloyingly sweet.
Crêpes with Brown Sugar and Bourbon Peaches
Ingredients
For The Batter
- 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, plus more for cooking crêpes
- 1 cup (5 oz) All–Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 Egg
- 1¼ cups Whole Milk
For The Peaches
- 2 Peaches
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ⅛ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Lemon Juice
- 1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 1 tablespoon Bourbon
Instructions
- For the batter: Microwave butter in 20 second intervals until melted; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk the egg and milk until uniform. Sift about ½ of the dry ingredients mixture through a fine–mesh strainer over the milk mixture; whisk together until a few lumps remain. Sift remaining dry ingredients over the batter; whisk until a few lumps remain. Add the melted butter and whisk until smooth.
- For the peaches: Halve and pit peaches. Slice peaches ½–inch thick; transfer to large mixing bowl. Add brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and lemon juice to peaches; stir to coat peaches evenly. Let peaches sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.
- Add butter to a 12–inch skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and bubbling subsides, add the peach mixture to skillet, scraping out any accumulated juices and sugar. Cook, stirring frequently, until peaches soften but are still intact, about 5 minutes. Add bourbon; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Transfer to small heat–proof bowl and set aside.
- For the crêpes: Set a 12–inch non–stick skillet over medium–low heat for 3 minutes. Increase heat to medium; melt ½ tablespoon butter until bubbling subsides and butter begins to smell nutty, 2 minutes. Ladle ¼ cup batter in center of pan; lift pan off heat and tilt in circular motion to disperse batter over surface. Cook until bottom of crêpe is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip crêpe and cook until second side is spotty golden brown, about 1 minute. Crêpes can be served immediately, or stacked and covered with aluminum foil to keep warm. Continue cooking batter, adding more butter to the pan as needed.
- To serve, working with one crêpe at a time, sprinkle 1 tablespoon brown sugar in a line across center of crêpe; roll crêpe into tube shape. Arrange 2 crêpes per plate; divide peaches evenly over crêpes.
Notes
- Low–fat or dairy–free milk can be substituted for the whole milk.
- If using salted butter, omit the salt from the batter.
- The batter can be cooked right away, but will develop even more delicious flavor if allowed to rest refrigerated overnight.
- Batter and peaches can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Whisk batter to recombine before cooking.
- Cooked and unfilled crêpes can be stacked and cooled to room temperature; store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 week, or in the freezer for 1 month. To reheat, stack crêpes, cover with a damp paper towel, and heat in microwave until warm, about 30 seconds.
Leave a Reply