Vive la France Tradition

Guest post from Reid Robison

Last Thursday evening, Diane and I went to our first movie since coming home from the mission:  Julie & Julia.  It blended together Diane's passion for fine cooking and blogs, and mine for fine eating and France.  So tonight we re instituted our Sunday night tradition of making French crêpes (pronounce cr ep.. not crape).  When I returned from my first mission to France, I made crepes as often as I could, and when our children were growing up, if we did not have a Sunday evening meeting going on, we made crêpes.



I recommend you see Julie & Julia, if for nothing else than the great visuals of Paris or to watch another passionate blogger.  We are committed to trying a new recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child every week.  Correction, I am committed to eating one and Diane is committed to cooking one.  This partnership works beautifully.

Here is the crêpe recipe from page 648:

Dessert crepes, especially if they are for crêpe Suzette, should be as thin and delicate as possible.  There are numerous varying recipes for making them; some use egg yolks, others use whole eggs, and still others specify cream rather than milk.  The lightness of crêpes made from the following recipe can be attributed to the used of milk diluted with water.  If you wish a heavier crêpe, use all milk, or light cream.  The batter for dessert crêpe -, like that for entree crêpes, must rest at least 2 hours before using.

• 3/4 cup milk


• 3/4 cup cold water


• 3 egg yolks


• 1 Tb granulated sugar


• 3 Tb orange liqueur, rum or brandy (we used orange juice plus a little vanilla extract)


• 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour


• 5 Tb melted butter


• An electric blender


• A rubber scraper

Place the ingredients in the blender jar in the order in which they are listed.  Cover and blend at top speed for 1 minute.  If bits of flour adhere to the side of jar, dislodge with a rubber scraper and blend 3 seconds more.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

The first  crêpe is a trial one to test out the consistency of your batter, the exact amount you need for the pan, and the heat.  After preheating the pan to about an 8 out of 10, immediately remove from heat and, holding hand of pan in your right hand, pour with your left hand a scant 1/4 cup of batter into the middle of the pan.  Quickly tilt the pan in all directions to run the batter all over the bottom of the pan in a thin film.  Return the pan to the heat until the edges begin to separate from the pan and turn brown.  Lift its edges with a spatula and if the underside is a nice light brown, the crêpe is ready for turning.


You will find it best to lift the crêpes while cooking with your fingers to turn and cook them on the other side.  Crêpes may be made several hours before serving time.  Pile them in a dish, cover with waxed paper and a plate to keep them from drying out.

This is the BEST recipe I have ever used for crêpes.

Here are some of our (not Julia's) favorite toppings:

• fresh lemon juice


• sugar


• butter


• "nutella"


• jam


• chocolate powder


• fruit