Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
Chocolate lovers won’t be able to resist these vegan chocolate chocolate chip muffins! Rich, decadent, and full of gooey melted vegan chocolate, they’re the best sweet treat or chocolatey breakfast.
all things food
Chocolate lovers won’t be able to resist these vegan chocolate chocolate chip muffins! Rich, decadent, and full of gooey melted vegan chocolate, they’re the best sweet treat or chocolatey breakfast.
The best crepes of your life…and I’ve been to France, guys. Homemade is best! This crepe recipe is truly my favorite! Crepes are kind of like a pancake in that they are flat and you put toppings on them, but really the comparison ends there. They are impossibly thin but not at all crispy. The…
The best crepes of your life…and I’ve been to France, guys. Homemade is best! This crepe recipe is truly my favorite! Crepes are kind of like a pancake in that they are flat and you put toppings on them, but really the comparison ends there. They are impossibly thin but not at all crispy. The are flexible and velvety. They are so buttery and golden, they will make you cry into your strawberries and cream. I’ll show you exactly how to make crepes, step by step! SO easy.
When I was 15 and my brother was 17, my parents went on a trip to Italy without us. It was summertime and we were busy with our lifeguarding jobs (and ok fine, we weren’t invited. Don’t worry I’m not bitter.)
Mom and Dad left us with a wad of cash that was our “Emergency Money.” No discussions were had about what exactly constituted an emergency. We were pretty good kids, though. They knew we weren’t going to be throwing any crazy parties.
But, I mean, we were teenagers. Not exactly above temptation. On the way home from the pool one afternoon, we saw him: the strawberry man. If you’ve ever been to California in the summer, you know what I’m talking about.
The strawberry sellers start popping up every spring (the first one just hit the streets in my neighborhood this week. I practically tripped in my rush to find some cash). The fun part is that you never know exactly what corner they will be on, or how long they will be there, so you have to act fast.
I can’t tell you the number of times my mom would be driving calmly down the road when BOOM she saw it, and suddenly the car has veered off the side of the road, ready to be loaded with an entire flat of the biggest, juiciest, reddest strawberries you ever laid eyes on. Strawberry haze hits lightning fast.
This exact thing happened to my brother Nathan and I. When we saw the strawberry man, our pupils were replaced with little tiny strawberries, and we rushed home to get the “Emergency Money” because by golly THIS WAS AN EMERGENCY. We bought $40 worth of strawberries (because apparently we needed an entire flat of 10 pounds of strawberries for each of us??)
We came home and made these crepes. Sooooo many crepes. With strawberries inside, strawberries on top, strawberries on the side, and some strawberry jam and soft cream cheese for good measure.
All these years later and I can still taste them. I’ve done my best to recreate what we had that day, but I don’t know if I will ever be able to match the vibe of a teenage summer day with a best friend and Emergency Money and no responsibilities, no schedule, and more strawberry crepes than anyone could possibly eat.
My mom has been making crepes her whole life and is a pro. I took her recipe and compared it with dozens of others, and paid special attention to Julia Child’s recipes (because you know, it’s Julia). Hers were a little fussy in my opinion (do we REALLY need to let the batter rest overnight? Read: NO.)
I’ve landed on my go-to crepe-for-all-occasions that is
I know you think of dessert when you think of crepes but DO NOT underestimate the amazingness of a savory crepe. I grew up eating my mother’s Chicken Crepes, which are kind of like enchiladas, EXCEPT MADE WITH CREPES (you dump straight-up cream on top and add Pepper jack cheese, and you might die and go to heaven, literally, from all the artery clogging that’s going on, but by golly you will die happy.)
These are the kind of crepes that are dangerous, because once you taste one that you have freshly cooked, eating it right out of the pan, you might never even get to the topping part. They are good just by themselves, the hotter and fresher the better.
Crepes are not hard to make, but there are some particular techniques you need to know to get the flipping part right. Crepes that are too thick (when you pour too much batter into the pan) are not the right texture. You want to pour them as thin as humanly possible, which can get a little dicey when you have to use a spatula to flip it 30 seconds later.
Rips and tears happen, especially when you’re first starting out. Crepe pouring, swirling, and flipping takes some practice. The trick is to just eat the first few that you mess up, right out of the pan, before anyone notices, then you can just present the perfect ones to your family or guests and they will never know. Follow me for more kitchen tips and tricks! 😂
When I was in college, I met a friend (hi Robert!) who had lived in France for 2 years serving a mission for our church. He was always talking about how amazing the crepes were, so we decided to make some together. He changed my crepe life forever that day by dumping straight up sugar directly on the crepe, squeezing a lemon over the top, and folding. It’s called Crêpes Citron Sucre and it has become my absolute FAVORITE. So bright and citrusy!
When I traveled to France over 10 years later, I remembered the Lemon Sugar Crepes and was determined to try them the first chance I got. The first evening in Paris, we were at the Eiffel tower and saw a food truck selling crepes. French street food! What could be better!
We rushed over and ordered lemon crepes. The guy poured the batter in the pan, used his fancy T-tool to spread out the batter, and moments later a fresh, real-French crepe was being laid on a plate. He sprinkled it with some sugar and then…reached over to a yellow squeeze bottle and squirted FAKE LEMON JUICE all over my precious crepe.
I mean, I’m not saying I didn’t have ANY decent crepes in France, but that experience taught me that man, sometimes if you want to get something done right, you gotta do it yourself. I promise, today’s recipe will match the best crepes you can find in France!
No ma’am! I like to use an 8-inch frying pan. And about that fancy T-tool I mentioned that the French guy used: you do not need one. I bought one in France because I think they are so cute (I display it in my kitchen) but this tool is meant to be used with a professional enormous crepe pan that is perfectly flat (no edge at all). They drag the top part of the T over the batter after it’s poured, to make sure it’s ultra thin. But it’s not really useful for a pan that has any kind of lip on the edge, which is what you and I are working with. Don’t fret, I promise you can get super thin crepes without the pan or the T-tool. You just need to practice. It’s all in the wrist. 😉
A crepe is made from very simple ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, milk, eggs, vanilla, and butter. The trick is getting the quantities of each just right. I tried it a bunch of different ways to get my recipe to buttery-velvety-perfection (so you don’t have to!)
Like I mentioned, the method for cooking crepes requires some solid technique to get a crepe that’s ultra thin and flexible, and not a crispy mess. I will show you everything in the how to section below!
I bet you have just about every ingredient you need to make these crepes right now! Such a simple recipe with mostly pantry ingredients. The full ingredient amounts and instructions are in the recipe card.
For the crepes
For the filling
Add all the ingredients (except the butter) to a blender, starting with the milk and eggs. This makes it easier on your blender.
We are using an entire tablespoon of vanilla in these babies. Bring on the flavor!!
Dump the flour and salt on top, then blend away. Once it has come together, open the top spout and pour in your melted butter, with the blender on low.
And voila! That’s seriously it. It takes 5 minutes to whip this up. You can put a lid on this and keep it in the fridge for a few days if you like! Whisk (or blend again) before using, adding a little milk if it’s thick.
Now it’s time to cook. You can start cooking these right away, the batter does not need to rest.
Set a stick of butter by the stove and heat up your 8 inch pan.
Dunk a 1/4 cup measuring cup right into the blender, you don’t need to fill it all the way. 1/4 cup is 4 tablespoons. So anywhere between 3-4 tablespoons of batter is what you want.
Add about 1-2 teaspoons butter to the pan and swirl it around to melt. My pan was hot enough that it browned the butter right away, this is fine. You can turn the heat down if you aren’t into browned butter (weirdo. I’m judging you.)
Then dump your batter in all at once. Immediately lift the pan with your other hand and start turning.
You want to keep the pan moving constantly to create a VERY thin layer of batter on the bottom of the pan, in as close to a large-circle shape as you can manage.
You might think it’s time to stop tilting now, but not for me. I despise thick crepes. Don’t stop tilting the pan until the batter no longer drips.
This might mean that you don’t end up with a perfect circle. That’s ok! Add in a couple drops of batter in the empty spots to fill it in. Or, scrape off the edges that are uneven if that’s easier.
See? Now we’re cookin. A perfect circle. Even when I tilt the pan all the way up, the batter won’t drip around at this point. Wait just a moment longer…until the batter no longer looks shiny on top, like the photo below. As soon as it starts to look matte, or a little bit dried, it’s time to flip. Can you see the difference?
Then shove a spatula underneath as far as you can, and flip.
I can’t believe I don’t have a better photo of a flipped crepe in the pan. Look at this poor guy, he’s all mushed! That’s kind of the deal with crepes though, they are not always perfect, and that’s okay. They still taste amazing. If we had the fancy pan and crepe-T-tool, they would look better. But I promise, these taste great and the texture is perfect.
You would not believe how many times I made Eric help me take these process photos. We probably shot the swirling technique for about 10 crepes, with me taking a thousand photos each time. It’s kind of hard to capture this process in photos, even with a buddy! At least for me, ha, I’m no pro.
We don’t have enough light for photos by our stove, so we would heat the heck out the pan, walk all the way over into the other room by the window, and pour the batter in, doing the swirling over the wood board photo backdrop that you can see underneath. Don’t be like us. Stay right by your stove 😂
My one plea: do NOT over cook your crepes. You want them to just be barely browned, or not at all, depending on what you like. But if you have gotten to the point that the crepe has enough structure to stay flat as you flip them, then you have cooked too long. They should be floppy flexible.
You can see this one has spots that are a little too dark. It’s no biggie you guys. You better believe I still ate the heck out of that crepe. It’s just a little darker and crisper than is ideal.
Okay! Now it’s time to fill our crepes!! The best part!
Add some soft cream cheese and powdered sugar to a mixing bowl and beat it up.
Add in some vanilla and a lil salt. Then spread some down the middle of your crepe…
And top with your strawberry filling. I have a simple recipe for macerated strawberries below, but if you want to take it even one step further, try my recipe for Fresh Strawberry Topping. It’s the same strawberry recipe I put on Strawberry Shortcakes, and it’s unbelievably juicy and fresh.
Or you could go with simple mixed berries and cream cheese. It’s really hard to go wrong at this point?? Just look around your kitchen, you will find something to fill your crepes with.
Often with leftovers the next morning, I spread crepes with peanut butter and sprinkle with sugar, for a little protein. My kids love it! ↓ here are some more ideas:
I’m pretty sure the options are limitless! Think of any kind of food you like, and put it in a deliciously thin buttery wrap and voila, a new kind of crepe is born. My family likes to have everything served buffet style and everyone gets to choose and mix whatever fillings they like to make various concoctions. Here’s a short list of the MANY possibilities:
You can make your crepes (and all their fillings) the whole show, or you can round out the meal with some additional menu items. Between making the crepes themselves and the filling, having crepes for a meal can be a labor of love so if I have sides I keep them very simple. If I am making crepes with a sweet filling, I go for savory sides and of course do sweeter sides with savory crepes. Here are some ideas!
Crepes are actually quite simple to store! First, make sure they cool completely, otherwise the heat will turn into condensation and the crepes will get soggy. Some people like to separate each crepe in a stack with wax or parchment paper, but I find it unnecessary. Just stack them up on a plate and cover with plastic wrap.
If you plan to store them for a couple days, keep them in a gallon size ziplock bag, squeezing out as much air as possible before sealing. The seal on the bag helps keep the crepes moist. You can also store them in an airtight container, but I don’t have one big enough to keep them flat, which I prefer. They will stay good in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
To reheat, put a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add each crepe individually and warm on each side for 30-60 seconds. Remove to a plate, add your fillings, and you’re good to go! If you are adding a savory filling, be sure to warm the filling up separately in the microwave before adding to the hot crepe.
Crepe batter is great for making ahead of time. Store the batter in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Stir well before cooking. If after making the first crepe, you feel the batter is too thick, add milk to the batter 1 tablespoon at a time.
Crepes are a great candidate for freezing, so make a big stack and thank yourself in the future! To freeze, first make sure the crepes are completely cooled. You can add parchment paper between each one (or skip it, honestly they never stick for me), then add the whole stack to a gallon size ziplock freezer bag and squeeze all the air out before sealing.
To eat them after freezing, let the bag sit on the counter for an hour or two (or in the fridge overnight) until they are pliable enough to separate. Add one crepe at a time to a skillet over medium heat and warm for about 30 seconds to a minute until the crepe is totally heated through.
A crepe is kind of like a large, flat pancake. The ingredients are very similar: milk, eggs, flour, vanilla, butter, etc. But in a crepe, more liquid is added and there is little or no leavening so it has no rise. This makes for an ultra thin, but ultra pliable and soft crepe.
You’ll find that while there is some variation, most crepes follow the same recipe pattern. This recipe uses whole milk, large eggs, vanilla, flour, sugar, kosher salt, and butter.
No sir! Pancakes and crepes are similar in that they are round, sweet breakfast items. But pancake batter is thicker and contains a leavening agent to make them rise so they’re nice and thick and fluffy. Crepe batter looks thin and runny in comparison; there is much more liquid added, and no leavening, making the cooked crepe extremely thin and delicate.
Crepes by themselves end up being healthier than pancakes because they are just so much thinner, there’s literally less volume. That being said, I know I end up adding WAY more filling to my crepes than on top of my pancakes so in the end the calories may be a wash. If you’re looking to limit calories (something I personally have no interest in when making crepes 😂), you’ll really want to pay the most attention to what you use for a filling.
I’m pretty sure delicious breakfast foods are a love language. Forget sweet nothings, give me a sweet crepe or an incredible breakfast casserole! Here are some of my favorites.
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