I couldn’t wait for Jim to open his Christmas present this year. If you’ve been reading the blog, you know that Jim knocked it out of the park with his handcrafted gifts. But I was pretty confident about what I had for him too. It was, admittedly, store bought. But it was something that I hoped would extend beyond its purchase, hopefully for years to come.
As soon as he pulled back the wrapping paper, I knew I had done well. Tucked into a cardboard box was a crepe pan and two sweet little wooden tools. True to form, Jim was researching crepe recipes that very day. Two weeks into January, we’ve had them twice for breakfast.
The crepe pan was a thing. An item adding to the other items in our home. Sure. But it was a thing that represented mornings at our kitchen table. It represented a food that would hopefully become a beloved tradition. Let’s get cliche: it was a gift that would keep on giving.
Yesterday was our second go at the newfound tradition. Jim will likely always be the crepe maker. You might as well know now that he is in charge of all things bread and bread-adjacent in this house (anything that requires finesse and patience, basically). Somehow I have decided that the delicate touch needed for crepes (specifically the need to flip them) is better suited for my sweet husband.
BUT I did decide to step up my contribution beyond setting the table. I decided I would make a filling for the crepes! So let’s break down what we each did…
Jim turned to his faithful “The Pancake Handbook” for the crepe recipe (link below to the cookbook). Before I show you the recipe, let me just say that it makes only 4 to 5 crepes. They are large, so if you stuff them with enough of a hardy filling, they may be enough to feed a family of four. Just be forewarned.
3/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup cold milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
Blend water, milk, eggs, butter, salt and flour for 30 seconds on a high speed. Scrape, then blend an additional 15 seconds. CHILL BATTER FROM ONE HOUR TO OVERNIGHT (we have only ever done overnight).
Heat up your crepe pan and rub it lightly with oil. Ladle in your batter and swirl the pan to allow your crepe to become even. You will need to cook it for about 1-2 minutes. When the sides seem to be cooked, you can flip your crepe and cook the other side. That’s it!
As for the filling I chose to make, I went with a cream cheese one, in tribute to the IHOP crepes my grandma always ordered without fail on our breakfast trips. I didn’t make this complicated. I dumped a half of a normal container of cream cheese (solid measurement, right?) into a bowl and blended it with one tablespoon of powdered sugar and a splash of milk. That is literally it. I blended it for a couple of minutes. Then when my crepe was cooked, I lined it with the whipped cream cheese filling and a strawberry jam. I am determined to preserve my own strawberries this season, but for now this worked just fine.
In the end, I was the only one who ate my filling. Eye roll. But the kids were just as happy with their nutella and peanut butter filling. Of course.
So my gift turned out to be exactly what I hoped for. This simple and enormous act of creating a tradition that draws us closer. Anything that brings us around our table is a win. If my last post was about giving, this one, I suppose is about gathering. And the gift that got us there was a little, inexpensive crepe pan. Go figure.
LINKS (I’m not cool enough to make commissions on these haha just wanted to share):