Lots of drama with this recipe!
Today’s Secret Recipe Club reveal has a big back story. When I first started looking at my blog assignment, Spinach Tiger, I found pretty quickly the recipe I wanted to make. I always love new breakfast recipe ideas. Here’s the drama, though.
I shared it with The Chef and his response was, “Making crepes can be tricky.” For a very inexperienced cook, this wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. I was pretty sold on making these crepes. I had already developed a great plan to adapt them, and as I said, I am inexperienced in the kitchen. One translation of that: Never adapts recipes.
Okay. That’s really no longer a fair translation, actually. I recently have started making minor adaptations that I thought were safe.
Since we have food sensitivities, I have had to learn how to make some substitutions in recipes and I have begun learning how to make adaptations that are easy and make sense. Like substituting cashews for almonds or peanuts if the flavor elements still work together. Or trying rice milk in place of regular milk. Things like that.
But with these crepes, I had some major adaptations in mind. So I decided I would definitely make them on a weekend when I’d have Chef John at home to bail me out if necessary. Perfect! I was set.
I bought the ingredients I had decided upon, re-read the recipe, consulted with The Chef and watched this video:
And then I got to work.
The Secrets to Making Crepes
Secret #1: The Right Pan
The first secret to making perfect crepes, The Chef informed me, is having a non-stick pan that is truly non-stick. He suggested I buy a new pan because ours are so old they aren’t quite as non-stick as they used to be.
So I did. And after my first attempt, I was already calling for The Chef, who was sick and resting in the other room. I had not made tons of batter, being the ingredients I chose weren’t exactly cheap. He was happy to come to my rescue. Before calling him, though, I tasted my attempted crepe that hadn’t come out of the pan very well. I loved the flavor! This was a good sign!
He tried a few and about his third one… voila! We had a crepe!
Secret #2: The Right Batter Mixture Ratio of Wet and Dry Ingredients
As you can see from my photo, the crepes did crack when we folded them. I wanted to do a fold like Angela had done with her crepes on Spinach Tiger. I was already making plenty of other adaptations, but when we saw that the consistency of our crepes were causing them to crack when folded, we knew they’d look better just folded over.
Since our family is wheat and/or gluten-restricted (varies per individual), I was using gluten-free flours. I only had about a week before the reveal, so I did not have time to play around any more with my mixture.
I shared them with the Culinary Content Network I’m a member of through the Daily Meal (see our footer bar at the bottom of the page when you scroll all the way down), though, and a pastry chef responded with some great advice I can’t wait to use when I have some time to try them again with a different mixture. In a nutshell, she said my mixture sounded a little dry for crepes.
Serving Suggestion
So my suggestion with this particular mixture if you want to give them a try ~ because if you like these flavor elements, you will love how they taste ~ is to use this mixture either for pancakes with the strawberries and kiwi as a topping, or if you aren’t concerned about presentation like you would be if you were serving at a dinner party or special event, just use the same fold we used and ignore the cracks. :)  (Note: Taste-wise they were a hit with the whole family.)
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A little about the original recipe from Spinach Tiger
I wanted to give a little summary description of Angela’s recipe, because even though I decided to try something a lot different from hers, they do sound delicious and I want to try a version much closer to hers as well. This was the first time I’ve had crepes and it will not be the last. I’m so glad to have discovered them through her blog. Hers were made out of white, whole wheat flour and were filled with pears, walnuts and feta cheese. I love all of those flavors, so definitely check hers out if you do as well.
Recipe: Coconut Crepes with Strawberries and Kiwi
Summary: Inspired by this recipe at Spinach Tiger by Angela
Ingredients
- 3/8 cup brown rice flour
- 1/8 cup coconut flour
- 1/8 teaspoon Xanthan gum
- dash all spice
- 1 egg
- dash salt
- 1/4 cup rice milk
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- strawberries, small-diced
- kiwi, small-diced
- confectioner’s sugar for garnish
Instructions
- To make the batter for the crepes: Sift into a medium sized bowl the brown rice and coconut flour.
- Add xanthan gum and dash of all spice. Add dash of salt to cracked egg, and whisk together.
- Add to flour mixture, along with rice milk and stir until well incorporated with flour.
- Add melted butter, vanilla extract and coconut milk and stir together.
- Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
- Heat a medium-sized non-stick pan over high heat until hot, then reduce heat to medium.
- Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter into heated pan or enough for the size crepe you desire. With crepes, you have to make a few before you get a feel for the right amount of batter in the pan.
- Allow batter to cook until bubbles start forming and edges become slightly brown. Flip with broad, flexible spatula.
- Allow to brown on other side briefly (it will slide easily around pan when done). Remove from pan and place on plate to cool, using wax paper in between each crepe to keep them from sticking together.
Quick notes
(1) You want to plan to let the batter for the crepes refrigerate for about an hour before making them. (2) Also, when flipping the crepes, we found it easiest to get the crepe off the pan without it sticking by pressing the spatula, bending it slightly underneath the edge of the crepe and carefully working it loose from the pan.
Variations
The Chef said what would put these “over the top” would be a drizzle. We will try a chocolate syrup drizzle the next time we make them!
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time:
My rating
Copyright © The Saturday Evening Pot.
Previous Secret Recipe Club Reveals:
March 2013
My Reveal: Potato Crusted Veggie Quiche | Paulchen’s Reveal of Our Recipe: Lime Squares
February 2013
(1) My Reveal: Avocado-Pear Dip | Love and Flour Blog Author’s Reveal of Our Recipe: Garlic Lime Shrimp
(2) My Reveal: Beef, Bean and Cheese Casserole | Lindsay of Life and Kitchen Reveal of Our Recipe: Whiskey Glazed Carrots
Check out all of the other delicious recipes revealed from Group A today:
More great ideas:Â Titus 2sdays, Works for Me Wednesday, Mommy Club, Foodie Friday
About the Author
Adopted at age 2, grew up in the Charlotte, NC area. Obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Appalachian State University. Loves being a Mom of two and taste-testing Chef John's culinary creations and sharing them with readers.
I have only made crepes once and they were a DISASTER!! But I will try again since you make it look so easy!1 And tasty!!
I've had success with coconut milk in crepes. I think it is important to make the batter thin. My ratio is 3/4 cup flour to 3 eggs to 1 cup milk.
Thank you for sharing your ratio! I hope to be able to give them a try again soon.
Looks Yummy :-), Great recipes on your blog!
Thank you!
Major kudos!!! I made crepes ONCE and that was enough to send me to the corner shivering. Looks beyond scrumptious!
Thank you! I am sure I would have ended up in the corner myself had my husband not been home. Well, that's exactly why I made sure he would be there. 😉 It's funny because after making one whole crepe myself I was totally okay with him doing the rest… LOL.
how impressive!! just keep working at it & i'm sure your crepes will be fabulous in no time
Thank you! I'm ready to give it another try soon!
Those look delicious! Funny…I can make crepes, but my pancakes stink. At least that's what my peanut gallery tells me.
Peanut gallery… lol! That's awesome. Give these a try then… maybe you will be able to perfect the mixture since you are already proficient with crepes! The flavor was so good I am a little nervous about adjusting it but I want the texture to improve. So we'll see how it goes…
Love the how-to!!
I love crepes…so good! Love the fruit topping.
Thanks… great first experience for me!
So, it's almost 10pm where I am now and you've got me wanting those crepes. They look delicious.
I know… great bedtime snack too. 😉 Thank you!