Catch-up from Christmas 2012

I honestly never know what to get for my parents for Christmas anymore, so I tend to do more makeshift things for them. This Christmas, I got up to make breakfast for them. The menu was breakfast scones, crepes, and tea lattes. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the scones, the other crepes I made, and the lattes on Christmas Day. Scones are really easy to make, but I will still stick to eating them with butter and/or jam and tea. :) For the crepes, I made one specially for each person, and left the rest as a kind of "serve yourself" sort of thing on the table. We had blueberry jam, maple syrup, icing sugar, margarine, honey, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and bananas.

We had some leftover batter from that day, so I made cinnamon apple crepes for my brother and I this morning. (If I remember, I'll do another post some time in the future about the latte. We don't own a french press or anything, and it's a really easy thing to put together!) But, back to crepes...

Things I have learned over the past few days about crepes:
- Letting the batter rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours is key, but it is actually better when you leave it in the fridge overnight.
- They get much easier to make once you get the hang of it.
- Don't be tempted to flip the crepe early. It might look like the middle part is getting quite cooked, but leave it be. Wait until it lifts up a bit on the edges, and you can move it around in the pan by just swivelling it.
- Crepes are amazing because they make such a simple base. You can make them sweet or savoury, and fill them with whatever is you fancy. Personally, I am going to stick to sweet ones for now because I have a little more experience with desserts.

There is actually a nice French restaurant in downtown Edmonton called "The Creperie". In Edmonton, I've only been there for crepes, and they are consistently delicious. I will have to blog about it some time when I get the chance to go there again!

I wish I took a picture of the one I made for my brother instead...it was more representative of the rest. This one was for myself, and I got distracted while assembling his, so it got a bit burnt around the edges :(

Basic Crepes (adapted from Martha Stewart)
*Makes 10-12 crepes*
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
4 eggs
3 Tbsp olive oil + extra for greasing the pan between creeps

1. Beat eggs into a bowl with oil.
2. Slowly add the milk into the mixture.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt into the wet ingredients, and fold carefully until smooth.
4. Cover batter with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Overnight is so much better.
5. When ready to cook, fasten a folded paper towel to the end of a pair of chopsticks, and put a few drops of oil on the paper towel. Grease a medium-sized frying pan, and set heat on medium-low.
6. Add 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan, and work quickly to swirl the batter evenly across the whole hot surface of the pan.
7. Do not lift or flip the crepe until it begins to peel away from the edges by itself. Another way to check is to lightly shake the pan. If the crepe doesn't budge, don't flip it yet. When you can move it without having to use a spatula, flip it over. I use my fingers, but be careful not to burn yourself. Each side should only be lightly browned. When cooking the crepes, be patient and keep an eye on it.
8. Remove the crepe and place it on a paper towel on top of a large plate. Grease the pan again and repeat steps 6-8 until the batter is done.
9. Serve with whatever toppings you like and enjoy.

For Cinnamon Apple Crepe (adapted from GoodVeg on Squidoo)
1 apple (I used Gala)
Unprocessed Honey
Water
Ground Cinnamon
Walnuts

1. Peel and core the apple. Slice it into thin wedges.
2. Place the apple wedges into a pot, and add enough water to cover the top of the slices. Cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes or until tender.
3. Remove the wedges with a slotted spoon and place on a small plate. Try not to have excess water.
4. Arrange apple wedges across the centre of a crepe. Drizzle about a half teaspoon of honey over the apples, and shake a bit of ground cinnamon on top. Fold up the crepe, place a few more apple wedges, drizzle another half teaspoon of honey over the top, shake a bit of ground cinnamon, and sprinkle some chopped walnuts over top. Even add some icing sugar if you'd like.
5. Serve warm.

The best thing to do is to set the table with a plate of empty crepes, a bunch of jams and syrups and sauces, different kinds of chopped fruit, peanut butter/Nutella, and the sort, so that people can put whatever they want on a their crepes. One of my favourites is just some maple syrup lightly drizzled on the inside. Simple ones with maple syrup remind me of when I was in Montreal. On the only trip that my family took to Montreal, I came down with a terrible bug, and couldn't eat anything too rich (which was very very sad). When we went to a restaurant, my mom explained the predicament to the waiter, and he came back with a simple crepe with just maple syrup, and it was delicious. I would love to go back there some day...

-M