This weekend, a sacred act took place in my apartment. That’s right: in my tiny, low-ceilinged kitchen, a sauté pan was lit aflame by blue flames that erupted from its brandy-coated contents. Bananas and sugar caramelized under nine inches of dancing fire as everyone in the room looked on in wonderment. Once the smoke from this challenging new culinary victory cleared, a decadent, sumptuous dessert emerged, victorious, reminiscent of Paris, standing alone as our reward for the long, hard week passed.
Sadly, I was not the Master of Flambé at this ceremony. Still, I’m glad that I got to witness the technique firsthand in my own apartment; let’s just say my reaction was not Culinary School-appropriate, and my hardcore reputation would have been forevermore tarnished as I backed into a corner, shouting, “It’s getting bigger!” and shielding my face from the flames.
But enough about that. What follows are the recipes for sweet, light, fluffy, perfect crêpes; ones that will make you feel like you’re standing on a frosty Parisian street corner, staring up at Notre Dame in wonder as you clasp your hands around a soft, powdered-sugar dusted pastry wrapped in paper and stuffed full of joy. The recipe for joy, in the form of an intuitive bananas foster filling, is also included.
Perfect Crêpes
For these crêpes, you’ll need:
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons of melted butter
- 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Additional butter for coating the pan
- A large, flat-bottomed saute pan
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until extremely smooth; this can also be done quickly in a blender. Ideally, it’s good to refrigerate the batter for about an hour before using, so the bubbles can settle, but we used it right away and had no issues with the crêpes tearing. Note that this batter will keep in the fridge for 48 hours!
Heat your sauté pan over medium heat, and use a stick of butter to grease the pan. Pour in about 1 ounce of batter, or enough to coat the bottom of the pan in a thin layer, and gently shake the pan to ensure even distribution of the batter. Cook for about 30 seconds to a minute, until the edges of the crêpe look firm and are beginning to pull away from the pan. Then, gently flip the crêpe. Most of us aren’t skilled enough to do this with a flick of the wrist, so a good trick is to slide the crêpe onto a flat plate, cooked side down, and then use the plate to flip the crêpe back onto the pan.
Finish cooking the crêpe for about another 30 seconds to a minute, or until lightly golden and cooked through. Lay the crêpe flat so it can cool, and then spread a thin layer of Nutella across it, and add your Bananas Foster filling…
Bananas Foster Filling
Bananas Foster seemed the most obvious filling once the idea for crêpes was finalized. Few things go better with sweet crêpes than Nutella, and Nutella, for those who didn’t know, is soul mates with bananas. Since bananas foster is basically bananas all dressed up for a night out on the town, making these crêpes with a Bananas-Foster and Nutella filling was not only a slightly impressive dessert show to put on for friends, but utterly fitting. Here’s how the Bananas Foster filling was whipped up, on-the-fly.
Gather your ingredients – 3 bananas, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 stick of butter, and 1/4 cup of brandy (note that traditional bananas foster uses cinnamon, which we opted against since the Nutella added additional layers to the dessert). Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat, and add the butter. As the butter begins to melt, slice the bananas into quarter-inch slices, and add those to the pan as well. As the bananas begin to soften, add in the brown sugar and stir, continuously, until the brown sugar has dissolved completely in the butter and the sauce begins to thicken.
Then add the brandy. Depending on your level of flambé expertise, you can attempt to catch the brandy alight with the stove top flame, or the safer, preferable method – use a grill lighter or a very long match. Hold the pan off the heat and away from your body and face as you do this, as the contents of the pan will ignite very quickly, and large flames will rise up. Gently swirl the contents of the pan and allow the flames to slowly subside. Once the flambé has diminished, you can finish the Bananas Foster on the stove, until the sauce and bananas have reached the desired consistency; for us, this was a thick, syrupy sauce and very soft bananas.
Add the bananas to the crepe atop the Nutella, and gently fold the crepe over so you have a half-moon shape. Top with a bit more of the banana sauce, and dust with powdered sugar. One crepe is perfect to be shared as a light dessert for two, but one is also more than enough to make any evening fantastic if enjoyed all to one’s self.
So next time you’re looking for a very quick, easy, and sophisticated meal or dessert – look no further than crepes. They take practically no time at all to make, can be filled with virtually anything, and will have you reminiscing about European street food in no time. That is, if you’re into that sort of thing 😉
Beautiful! What did you drizzle the top with? Nutella or chocolate?
Thanks Robin 🙂 We actually forgot to take pictures that night, we were so eager to eat them, so I found some similar looking ones on the web, and that’s what you see above. But we topped ours with a little melted nutella and sauce from the bananas – sooo delicious!
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My 10yr old granddaughter is into baking and she wanted to try your recipe,
they turned out great. Delicious, we added a little whip cream to the finishing touch. They were so easy to make and she was able to do most of it by her, well with supervision. Thanks