The title-pun of this post is in honour of my most enduring – some might say longest-suffering – friend. She lives more than three hours away by plane. Which is a pity, because, if she lived nearby, I’m sure she and her husband would come over for dinner and enjoy Maggie’s crepes for dessert. As we just have.
For an elegant and light dessert, it is hard to go past crepes. As any visitor to France knows, crepes can be served with many different flavourings, including a savoury filling, but we prefer to keep it simple most of the time, with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkling of caster sugar delivering a delicious result.
This recipe will produce about 12-15 medium-sized crepes. Maggie uses a lightweight, non-stick pan pan, 20cm (8″) in diameter.
Ingredients
180g plain flour
2 cups milk
40g butter
pinch of salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten with 200ml of the milk
extra butter for greasing the crepe pan
caster sugar
lemon wedges
Method
- Place the butter, salt and 300ml of the milk in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has just melted. Remove from heat.
- Place the flour in a large bowl, add the egg/milk mixture and combine thoroughly with the flour using a fork.
- Add the warm butter/milk mix a little at a time, making sure that the consistency of the batter remains smooth and even. Complete the mixing using a whisk to produce a smooth batter free of lumps. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Heat a light, non-stick frying pan over medium heat and brush with a little butter. (A heavier non-stick pan would hold the heat better, so use that if your wrists are strong!) Ladle 2-3 tablespoons of batter into the pan and promptly tilt and swirl the pan to spread the batter evenly.
- After 1 minute, lift the outer edge of the crepe and flip, then cook for a few seconds on the other side.
- Transfer to a plate, squeeze some juice and sprinkle some caster sugar over the crepe, fold twice and add a bit more juice and sugar before serving.
- Crepes can be made in batches and kept warm in a 100C oven; or frozen between layers of plastic wrap then reheated in a microwave oven. The batter will keep for a few days in a fridge but will need to be brought back towards room temperature to allow you to recombine any solidified butter.
