Celebrate Candlemas with this authentic recipe for French crêpes!

Crêpes
The French love their
crêpes. At the fair, during food markets and on February 2nd, when they celebrate Candlemas, or la chandeleur. Much like waffles, crêpes can be served with Nutella (my daughter’s favorite), caramel au beurre salé, or fruit and whipped cream (chantilly). While crêpes are not really an everyday breakfast treat, they are definitely worth the small effort on a weekend morning.

Note: I flavored the crêpes with vanilla extract, but you can also choose rum, any type of liqueur or orange blossom water.

Makes 12 crêpes

Ingredients:

  • 125g all-purpose flour
  • 1 sachet vanilla sugar
  • Pinch of fine sea salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 300ml milk
  • 1 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Neutral oil (sunflower, grape seed, mild olive oil), for frying
  • Granulated sugar, or topping of choice, to serve

Instructions:

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Start whisking the eggs, incorporating the dry ingredients little by little. Pour in the milk little by little while whisking continuously. Make sure the batter is nice and smooth and there are no lumps. Finally, whisk in the melted butter and vanilla extract. Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the batter to rest in the fridge for at least an hour. When ready to fry the crêpes, heat a 25cm crêpe pan, When it’s hot, add a drop of oil and spread it out using a piece of kitchen paper. Ladle approximately 80ml of the batter in the centre of the pan, turning it so that it is completely coated with a thin, even layer of the batter. Cook for about 1- 1 ½. Carefully flip the crêpe over and cook for about a minute on the other side, Sprinkle each hot crêpe with granulated sugar, fold in four, sprinkle with more sugar and serve.