There is nothing like a beautiful, thin Crepe that’s delicately soft with a little crunch on the ends. Learn how to make these soft and buttery classic Crepes in no time. These Crepes are made with only a few simple ingredients that you already have on hand. Crepes are so versatile, they can be served for breakfast, dessert, dinner, and lunch with as many different fillings as you can imagine.
Looking for more classic breakfast recipes, try some amazing Brioche French Toast and make some Homemade Classic Waffles.
CREPES
This dish is very personal to me because I grew up making and eating Crepes almost every weekend. I’m pretty sure that I was about 2 years old when I started helping my mom make crepes. Our favorite thing to do on Saturday mornings was to make crepes, doughnuts, or other treats we could indulge in on a lazy day.
Crepes that we know today originated in the northwestern region of France known as Brittany. The popularity of these thin “pancakes” quickly spread throughout France and is now a staple in French cuisine.
Popularity of crepes spread through many western and eastern European counties, Canada, South America, and many other regions. Growing up in Russia, crepes (blini) are just as popular as they are in France. We even have a holiday that’s centers around it, it can’t get more popular than that.
Crepes are made with a simple base combination of eggs, milk, and flour with a few other ingredients added. Many chefs have their own version of a basic crepe recipe but it never variate too much from the basic ingredients.
My crepe recipe was actually taught to me by my mother and she learned it from my great-grandmother. This recipe has been in my family for generations and it has one little special trick that made my great-grandmother’s crepes extra special. The big secret is boiling hot water.
Adding hot water to the batter to thin it, helps crepes with extra soft texture and a beautiful doily-like pattern. There is something about the warm batter that has a special effect on these beautiful crepes.
HOW TO MAKE CREPES
Fill a small pot with about 3 cups of water and let it heat up while preparing the batter. Once it boils, take off heat.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and oil until smooth.
Add flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Whisk well until all evenly incorporated.
Scoop a cup of hot water with 1-cup measuring cup and slowly pour it into the batter while whisking. Whisk until combined.
Repeat with another cup of water and whisk until combined.
Add another 1/2 cup of hot water to the batter and whisk. That should be enough hot water to make the batter thin enough.
Preheat a non stick pan over medium to medium-low heat (heat setting usually depends on the stove).
Rub bottom and sides of the pan with some butter just to grease it a bit.
TIP: the amount of batter you pour in the pan depends on the size of the pan and the desired size of the crepe. I usually pour in a little less than 1/4 cup in an 8-inch omelette pan and it spread almost to the edges.
Remember to work fast! Lift the pan, pour batter in the middle of the pan and gently swirl the batter all around the pan to spread it thinly. Set the pan back onto the burner and cook for 30-45 seconds. Flip the crepe and cook on the other side only for about 10 seconds.
Take the crepe out of the pan and onto a large plate and repeat with remaining batter.
TIP: gently stir the batter together before scooping out the batter for each crepe. Lightly rub the pan with butter before cooking each crepe.
It’s okay to stack crepes one on top of the other.
WAYS TO SERVE CREPES
Crepes are so versatile, you can serve them with any filling your mind can come up with. Here are some of my favorite ways to serve crepes:
Breakfast
Make soft scrambled eggs with cheese and roll some of the scrambled egg mixture inside a crepe. I usually estimate 1 egg per crepe.
Soft, juicy, cheesy scrambled eggs are wonderful rolled in a slightly sweet crepe in the mornings. Fast and easy breakfast if you have crepes already made in the fridge.
As a sweet breakfast option, roll fresh berries inside the crepe and dust them with some powdered sugar.
Dessert
Crepes can be stuffed with just about any mixture of berries or fruit and topped off with whipped cream. Try berry or fruit pie filling too.
You can add whipped cream right inside of the crepes and drizzle them with chocolate and caramel.
For a very easy dessert, spread some jam inside the the crepe, fold it and add some whipped cream on top.
Crepes can also be filled with a no-bake cheesecake mixture. Beat softened cream cheese with some vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and a little vanilla yogurt until smooth. Spread some of cheesecake mixture on the crepe and roll it up. (Many flavor additions are possible here.)
Lunch/Dinner
For a lunch and dinner option, crepes can be filled with meats. Try filling crepes with ground beef (cooked of course), diced rotisserie chicken, shrimp, or scallops. You can even add sauce over the top of a meat rolled crepe.
Crepes filled with shrimp and scallops and topped with creamy white wine sauce are heavenly.
The sky of the limit when it comes to crepe fillings.
HOW TO STORE CREPES
Crepes are wonderful to be made ahead of time and reheated for breakfast, lunch, dessert, or even a snack. Simply cover stacked and cooled crepes with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Make sure that the crepes are wrapped air-tight and re-wrap them after each time you take out some crepes to be used.
HOW TO REHEAT CREPES
TIP: It’s okay if the crepes were stacked right on top of each other. If you’re having a little trouble separating cold crepes, pop them into the microwave for a few seconds just to warm up the few top ones. That will make them easier to separate.
I prefer to reheat crepes in a hot non-stick pan for just a few seconds each. This revives the crepe and gives it a gently crunch over the top rather than just soft from a microwave.
After the crepes have been reheated, you can fill them with any filling you desire.
SOME MORE RECIPES TO TRY
Strawberry Cream Filled Crepes
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Crepes
These Crepes are made with only a few simple ingredients that you already have on hand. Crepes are so versatile, they can be served for breakfast, dessert, dinner, and lunch.
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups hot water
Instructions
Fill a small pot with about 3 cups of water and let it heat up while preparing the batter. Once it boils, take off heat.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and oil until smooth.
Add flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Whisk well until all evenly incorporated.
Scoop a cup of hot water with 1-cup measuring cup and slowly pour it into the batter while whisking. Whisk until combined.
Repeat with another cup of water and whisk until combined.
Add another 1/2 cup of hot water to the batter and whisk. That should be enough hot water to make the batter thin enough.
Preheat a non stick pan over medium to medium-low heat (exact heat setting depends on each stove).
Rub bottom and sides of the pan with some butter just to grease it a bit.
TIP: the amount of batter you pour in the pan depends on the size of the pan and the desired size of the crepe. I usually pour in a little less than 1/4 cup in an 8-inch omelette pan and it spread almost to the edges.
Lift the pan, pour batter in the middle of the pan and gently swirl the batter all around the pan to spread it thinly. Set the pan back onto the burner and cook for 30-45 seconds. Flip the crepe and cook on the other side only for about 10 seconds.
Take the crepe out of the pan and onto a large plate and repeat with remaining batter.
TIPS: gently stir the batter together before scooping out the batter for each crepe. Lightly rub the pan with butter before cooking each crepe.
It’s okay to stack crepes one on top of the other.
Recipe Notes
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation.
Bonnie
I would love to take these to an Easter Brunch to WOW everyone. Any suggestions how to keep them warm or do I just serve them room temp?
lyuba
Hi Bonnie!
I usually keep the plate that I’m stacking crepes on right on the stove, or course away from the burger, that way the area is warm. While they are stacked one of top of the other, crepes will stay warm for a little while. You can serve them right after you finish them and it will be just fine.
Unless crepes are cold, they will be just fine at room temperature or a bit warmer, especially if you are filling them with fruit or whipped cream, which is cold. If you will be filling the crepes with something warm, like scrambled eggs, that will bring up the temperature of the crepe!
I hope this helps! 🙂