French crepes

This French crepes recipe is super easy to make with just a few basic ingredients. Serve these buttery homemade crepes with fresh fruit or Nutella for an amazing dessert or breakfast.

Crepes vs. pancakes

Crepes are thin French pancakes. You will often find them served folded in triangles and topped with fresh hot fruit or Nutella.

They are much thinner than American or Dutch pancakes and are eaten as lunch or dessert.

Ingredients

Flour - to make crepes, you need all-purpose flour.

Milk - I always use whole milk when I make this recipe, but semi-skimmed or skimmed milk is also fine.

You can replace the milk with plant-based milk, such as oat milk or coconut milk, for lactose-free crepes.

Butter - adding a little melted butter to the batter will give you delicious soft French pancakes.

I always use unsalted butter in my recipes unless stated otherwise. Do you only have salted cream butter on hand? Then omit the salt.

Instructions

Crepes are made just like pancakes with a batter of flour, water, sugar, eggs, and salt; only the proportions are different. Crepe batter is a lot thinner and also contains more eggs.

Put all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until combined. Add the eggs to the bowl and pour in the milk while whisking.

Adding the milk in a little at a time prevents your batter from being full of lumps.

Let the batter stand for a few minutes, and add more water or milk if it becomes too thick. The batter should be about as thick as heavy cream.

Get a hot non-stick skillet or crepe pan and spread a thin layer of butter with a brush. Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour a thin layer of batter into the pan and tilt the pan until the entire bottom is covered.

When the top of the crepe starts to dry, you can carefully flip it. This takes about one minute.

Bake the other side for a few more seconds until nicely golden brown, and place the crepe on a plate. Place a clean tea towel or inverted plate on top to keep them warm.

Repeat the previous steps until all the batter is used, and serve the crepes with powdered sugar, fruit, or Nutella.

Toppings

• Fruit
• Nutella
• Powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar
• Caramelized apples
• Advocaat
• Chantilly cream or chocolate whipped cream
• Homemade salted caramel sauce
• Grapefruit or lemon curd

Equipment

• A large mixing bowl, possibly with a lid and/or cling film, and a whisk.
• Measuring cup and a scale.
• A special crepe pan or skillet with pfas-free nonstick coating and a spatula.
• Ladle or a ¼ size cup to pour the batter into the pan.
• You will need a clean tea towel or an extra plate to keep the pancakes warm.

Storage

You can keep the batter covered in the refrigerator for about a day. Stir well before baking, and add a little water or milk if necessary.

Crepes can be kept for about three days. To prevent them from drying out, wrap the crepes in cling film.

Freezing is also possible, of course. Wrap the crepe in foil and freeze them. This way, you can keep them for about three months.

Tip: If you freeze them individually, you can easily take out a portion!

Take the crepes out of the freezer a few hours before serving and let them thaw at room temperature.

If you want to reheat a crepe, you can put them in a hot skillet pan for a moment or in the microwave for a few seconds.

Keep in mind that they will soften a bit in the microwave.

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