'Lissa's Life in the Southwest: Lissa's Southwestern Banana Nutella Crepes

Melissa's Organic Crepes

2 Organic eggs beaten
3/4 cup of Organic milk
1/2 cup Organic all purpose flour
1/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of Kosher salt
2 Tablespoons of butter

Crack the eggs and beat them. Mix in the milk. Gradually add in the flour, stir it in a little at a time, and try to break down all the circular flour chunks. You do not want any chunks of flour in your crepes. Add the sugar and salt. Melt the butter and add it. Make sure to stir all the ingredients until the batter is a silky texture. If the batter still has some dots of flour, use a metal strainer. Catch and dispose of all of the flour bumps. The ideal texture for a crepe batter is smooth. Once the batter is smooth, refrigerate the crepe batter for 30 minutes to allow it to set.

Once the batter is set, warm the stove top. Use only non-stick pan or crepe maker. Crepes have a tendency to stick and become a mess so non-stick pan is a must. I like the setting on my stove a little warmer notch than medium heat. I like my crepes to have a golden brown texture. My mother likes her crepes a little lighter, more rare, so she usually cooks exactly at medium heat. I am particular about serving Kosher, and I like to make sure the eggs are cooked fully and properly, and so I am one notch above medium heat. Either way works.

Butter the pan. Pour 1/4 cup of crepe mix into the center of the pan and use a circular motion to ensure that the crepe is round. I also lift the pan and revolve the crepe batter until it has a perfectly round and thin shape in the pan. When the crepes are cooking, it is normal to see bubbling in the crepe. Allow the crepe to cook until the edges brown. Use a metal spatula and lift the crepe to check and see if it is cooked enough. If it is golden brown, flip it over to the other side. Sometimes crepes are so thin, when you flip them, they tear. It's easy to tear a crepe when you flip it. Don't be mad at yourself. When the crepe cooks on the other side, sometimes it corrects itself. When you are finished cooking your crepe, fill it immediately and serve.

Start out with the best eggs in the grocery store. I used Eggland's Best ORGANIC brown eggs. It doesn't get much better than that.

I'm making a small batch so I'm just going to crack two eggs and put them in a mixing bowl.

Now we are going to beat the eggs. I'm just using a fork. A wire whisk works great too. If you prefer to blend it with a blender, that works. Some people actually use a blender to blend all of their crepe ingredients and it works equally as well.

Now, I'm going to add 3/4 cup of milk. I used whole organic cow milk, and this is what it looked like when I added the milk. Next, I stir the milk in.

Now I'm going to add 1/2 cup of flour. My flour is also organic. Just a note on the flour, you don't want to put too much flour in your crepes. It won't be a crepe anymore. It will be a pancake. Also too much flour will make a crepe thicker. Crepes are supposed to be silky smooth and thin in texture. You don't want to lose that so be very sparing with the flour.

Now I'm going to add the salt. I prefer Kosher salt. It's a little thicker in texture because this one is coarse. I like Kosher salt best because of course it's Kosher, but also because it breaks down with the other ingredients and adds great flavor. I use about a large pinch, maybe a teaspoon.

I'm adding 1/4 cup of sugar to the mix. My mom does not put sugar in her crepes, but I personally prefer it. I like the way it tastes with sugar. Maybe I am more of a dessert lover. I like a little sugar in my crepes.

I added two tablespoons of butter to the top. You absolutely cannot forget to add the butter or else the crepes will stick to the pan. Crepes are very thin, and they rip easily. When cooking crepes, you should always use a non-stick pan. Still, even with a non-stick pan, things can get sticky if you don't follow the recipe.

I'm stirring the crepe batter, and as I do this, I see all these little white lumps on the sides of the bowl. This is from the flour, and this is a normal thing that happens when a person makes crepes. The best thing to do to get rid of these lumpy spots is to stir them, crush them up and try to mix them into the batter. Sometimes the flour lumps will break down with stirring, but ultimately some of these irregular bumps will not be able to be stirred in, and they will have to be removed. Remove the flour lumps in a metal strainer. Crepe batter needs to be silky smooth.

After the crepe batter is strained, the crepe batter needs to set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Setting the batter is necessary, and even recommended for a longer period of time that I have done. Some people set their crepe batter for 8 hours. Why is it important to refrigerate the crepe batter? Hydrating the flour allows for the strands of gluten to relax. Letting the gluten relax helps to develop the softness in the batter, and adds to the flavor. If a person just took the crepe batter and went ahead cooking without setting, the crepe batter is generally coarse, and no spring or flexibility. Yes, crepes get better with age.

I heated my pan on MED heat. I butter the bottom of the pan and pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter in my pan. As I am pouring, I pour in a circular motion, and then I lift the pan off the burner and roll the batter around to get it smooth and paper thin. It is almost transparent in the pan.

The crepe has nice bubbles on the top. That's how we know that the crepe is cooking right. These bubbles are normal and will not affect your finished product.

This is how crepes should look fully cooked. They should be a little bit golden brown, and the bubbling is normal. The crepe should be thin, but flexible.

I like how the French fold their crepes. They fold them in halves and then fill the center and fold it into thirds. I'm not so fancy. I make my Southwestern crepes a little different. There are no folds in my crepes. I roll my crepes into thin rolls. I just fill the crepe full to the brim with whipped cream and fruit, and roll it like a taquito. Then I decorate the top with whatever I like.

Now it's time to dress this baby up. Nicole did not want bananas. I'm not sure what's going on with her, but as far as fruits and vegetables go, she has not been eating them very much. Unless it's broccoli and cheese or corn, Nicole thinks veggies are yuck. She's a little more eager with fruit probably because fruits can be naturally sweeter than vegetables. I have to live with an extremely picky little girl. I wish I could get her to choose healthier foods. She likes the sweets, and the healthy foods get pushed to the side. Nicole wants her crepe to be a Nutella and whipped cream crepe. So this is how I make them for her.

Make a line of Nutella spread. There are about four or five tablespoons of Nutella. I am not a Canadian, but I love Nutella. We spread the Nutella across in a strait line, and then follow up with a line of whipped cream also in a strait line.

Then I take the crepe, and carefully roll it over, and roll it again until the Nutella and whipped cream are tucked neatly in there. I over filled the cream a little more because with the heat of the crepe, the cream will break down some so it's perfectly fine to add more cream.

Nicole likes whipped cream on the top too. I can literally make three of these crepes, and Nicole will eat it all. She absolutely loves these. I make them one at a time so she has to wait for her tummy to settle.

Here's the next crepe that I made for Nicole.

Nicole only ate two Nutella and cream crepes today. Some days when she is very hungry, she can eat 3-4 crepes. Nicole is definitely growing up fast. I make my own crepes a little different. I like a little bit of everything on mine. I start out the same by adding about 4 tablespoons of Nutella in a strait line.

I cut the top off a banana and peel it.

I chop the whole banana into thin slices and top it all over the Nutella. If the banana goes a little wide, that's okay, the crepe is pretty durable, and will hold it all together.

I add whipping cream all over the banana. I can't get enough of the whipped cream. It looks like it's going to be too full to roll, but actually it will work.