Sweet Crepes - Two Ways

Crepes with Nutella and Burnt Caramel Hazelnut Praline Sauce

Until just a few years ago I had never really eaten crepes at all. Sure, we made the obligatory crepes in French class in high school, but the whole thing seemed difficult and overdone (much like my teacher) to me. She went on and on about making them and being authentic and blah, blah, blah... then she pulled out styrofoam plates filled with batter and an upside down pan that we were to dip into the batter to cook our crepes. Somehow this didn't seem to authentic to me.

Now, I'm not saying there is anything necessarily wrong with that type of crepe pan, but, since most of us couldn't get the batter on there without melting styrofoam onto the pan as well, it just didn't seem like such an incredible thing to me - especially since the crepes tasted about as good as the styrofoam - at least there was ice cream though - oh, and chocolate sauce.

Fast forward, oh about six years to working with one of the attorneys in our office who had spent a few years in France. He always went crazy when anyone mispronounced crepes (still does) and claimed to make wonderful authentic crepes - which he also does. They were incredible and seemed to be out of my culinary reach. He had the secret batter, the special pan and tools, just the right technique, etc. I was duly impressed and happy to consume several of the crepes he made for us.

There is something about simple French foods that just intimidates me at times into thinking I just can't make it - or so I thought.

Fast forward again, about two more years to breakfast at a friend's house where crepes were served. I knew that this family often had crepes with fresh fruit and cream and juice and had the most wonderful al fresco breakfasts out on their deck overlooking the valley and lake. The crepes were flavorful, tender and perfect. I once again figured that they must have been an awful lot of work to make and that they must have all the special tools. I just resigned myself that I would someday have the money to get all the "right" tools and until then I would just love those crepes from afar.

This brings us to about two years at same friend's house. I was there when we were going to make breakfast and she was going to make crepes. I thought, "oh yum, I'll get to see how it is done." So, how was it done? On a regular old big countertop pancake griddle, with the back of a metal spoon to spread the batter and a regular spatula to flip. And this is how they are always done at her house. Now, I am a big fan of authentic techniques and tools, but this showed me that I too could have crepes any time I wanted. So. Now we do.

I have tried several different batter recipes and until now, hadn't found one that I just loved hands down. I tried one, but since it called for a large amount of alcohol (and we don't drink or ever have alcohol on hand) the recipe seemed difficult to me to adapt - of course I could just sub water, but where is the fun in that? Besides, I wanted to find a recipe I loved where I would always have all the ingredients on hand.

When Suzana of Home Gourmets announced that the latest round of Hay Hay It's Donna Day! (that wonderful event created by Barbara and now cared for and organized by Bron) was going to be all about Pancakes! -- well, you know I just had to throw something into the ring. I am so glad that I did because I decided, rather than using that other crepe recipe I mentioned above, I would use one of Donna Hay's recipes (well, I changed it a bit to add some extra flavor in the form of butter and vanilla).

I love this recipe. I'm sure that I would love it without my changes as well, but for the purposes of what I wanted to do, this was absolutely perfect. The batter was simple and straightforward to make and wasn't so runny that it made a complete mess on the griddle trying to cook the crepes.

So, for my entry for HHDD, here is Donna Hay's crepe recipe - slightly changed by me - and served two ways. For a very decadent breakfast treat you can serve these as I did, filled with a spread of chocolately Nutella and folded then drizzled with some warm Burnt Caramel Hazelnut Praline Sauce for good measure (first picture). I did mention it was decadent, didn't I? For this sauce, I just melted a bit of butter, caramelized it with some sugar and tossed in a handful of chopped, toasted hazelnuts. Yum!

Butter Sugar Caramelized Crepes

For a slightly simpler way to serve these (and actually, my favorite) I just cooked the crepes and then melted some butter and sugar together in the pan and recooked the crepes so they were covered in the melty, caramely sugar. Yeah, what's not to love about that. If you want to be slightly healthier than me, well, add some fresh fruit. Me? I just eat them by the stack. Either way, I hope you'll give this crepe recipe a shot, because, for me - I've finally found my go-to recipe.

Sweet Crepes
(Adapted from Donna Hay Modern Classics 2)

2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons caster sugar
4 large eggs
1 2/3 Cups milk
2/3 Cup cream
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or pure almond extract

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the caster sugar and salt. Combine the eggs, milk, cream, and extract, whisking well. Add the melted butter and combine well. Slowly whisk into the flour until smooth. Allow to stand for 20 minutes. Cook the crepes in a small non-stick frying pan over medium heat until light golden on each side. Serve warm. Makes 20.

Hay Hay It's Funnel Cake!

Well, it is finally starting to feel a bit more like the beginnings of summer here in Utah. Summertime will always and forever remind me of County Fairs.  Though the County Fair and State Fair won't happen until later in the summer I don't see any reason to wait to give this treat a chance.  The timing was also perfect to send this as my entry to Suzana of Home Gourmets, winner of the last round of Hay Hay It's Donna Day, the event created by Barbara at Winos and Foodies, and with its new home with Bron Marshall.  Suzana has chosen Choux! for HHDD#20 - so now was as good a time as any to try my hand at making an old fashioned country Fair favorite - funnel cake.   I recently watched an episode of Good Eats where funnel cakes were made and knew that it wouldn't be too long before I had to give it a go. 

It was super simple and easy and made for a very, airy light concoction.  I guess you could call them sort of like a doughnut, but either way, it was a nice fun treat.

I modified a basic choux recipe just a bit to add some extra flavor to my funnel cakes with the addition of a bit of vanilla, cinnamon and ginger.  Just pipe a bit of a random pattern straight into the hot oil and fry up some chouxy goodness - easy peasy - plus it was really fun to watch.  

Besides, we all like treats that can be prepared start to finish with minimal fuss or mess in a short amount of time.  Making these only took about 35 minutes from start to eating a stack of funnel cakes dusted with some powdered sugar.  Definitely worth a repeat.  

Choux Funnel Cakes

(Adapted from Donna Hay's recipe for Choux and Alton Brown's recipe for Funnel Cake)

- Approximately 10 depending on size - mine were about 6 inches across
1 cup (8 fl oz) water (240 ml)
100 grs (3 ½ oz) unsalted butter
¾ cup (112 ½ grs / 4 oz) plain all-purpose flour
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Confectioners' sugar for dusting, if desired

Place the water and butter in a saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and ginger.  Add flour mixture and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cook, stirring over low heat until the mixture leaves the side of the pan. Remove from the heat. 

Place in an electric mixer and beat on high, gradually adding the eggs until well combined.  Beat in the vanilla.

Once all eggs have been added and mixture is smooth, put dough in a piping bag fitted with a number 12 tip. Heat about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a heavy pan. Pipe dough into oil, making a free-form lattice pattern; cook until browned, flipping once. Remove cake from oil, drain on paper towels, and top with powdered sugar. Continue until all of the batter is used.

Blueberry Orange Clafouti

One more clafouti for Bron. I meant to make this last week, but the grocery store trip kept being elusive. Then, I figured I was out of time to make it for Bron's Clafouti Edition of Hay Hay It's Donna Day til I read this post that there was still time. Woo-hoo! This is only my second clafouti and I am seriously in love with this dish. Besides, since three of my favorite women keep talking about clafouti, I knew I had to try at least one more now while it was fresh in my mind. DH definately liked this version better (as evidenced by the fact that he plowed threw two dishes this morning) than the Chocolate Raspberry version I made before. While, I'm partial to the chocolate, this Blueberry Orange version was delicious.

Both times I have made this dish I've been struck by how simple and sublime it is. I think that this is where the French really excel in all things culinary. Taking few and simple ingredients and turning them into something simply amazing. Making this version this morning was absolutely cathartic for me. Measure, zest an orange, rub into sugar, smell the citrus, stir, pour, add beautiful fresh blueberries, sprinkle with some raw sugar and bake. Simple, easy, fun and relaxing. The perfect way to start the day! Since I still need to post the Blogging for Babies roundup this week, and have a couple of other challenges I'm working on, this is probably my last clafouti for Bron, but definately not my last clafouti I will be making!

Blueberry Orange Clafouti
(Adapted from and measurements based on Bron's Mixed Berry and Cherry Clafoutis)

1 pint of blueberries, fresh or frozen
300ml of whole milk
1/3 cup of caster/superfine sugar
4 tablespoons raw sugar (turbinado)
Finely grated zest of one large orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
pinch of salt
1 cup of all-purpose unbleached flour
icing / confectioners sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (or 190 deg C).

Place 4 x 250ml or 1 x 4 cup capacity strong heat proof dishes (i.e ones that won’t crack on cold liquid hitting them!) in the oven to preheat.

In a small bowl, rub the orange zest with the caster sugar thoroughly until very moist, fragrant and orange.

Next, in a large pouring jug or blender whisk together the milk, the orange caster sugar, vanilla, eggs, salt and flour.

Remove the heated dishes from the oven and divide the blueberries evenly between them. Sprinkle with the raw sugar, then evenly ladle over the egg mixture.

Quickly return to the oven and bake the individual dishes for 15 to 20 minutes, or 1 large dish for 35 to 40 minutes until puffed up, golden and cooked through.

Dust with icing sugar, serve warm or at room temperature.

HHDD # 18 - Chocolate Coconut Raspberry Swirl Tarts

I was a little late finding out about this month's HHDD, but I really didn't want to miss it once I saw the pictures of the delectable little tarts made by Bordeaux over at Marita Say's announcing this round's recipe theme. Chocolate Coconut Tarts.

These looked like the macaroons of my dreams. Crispy and chewy on the coconut but not overpowering with, basically, a chocolate truffle filling. Oh, yea. I'm in.

I didn't want to stray too far from the original recipe because it looks so good and because as soon as I saw it I had a crazy macaroon craving that wouldn't let go. I chose to mix it up a little and add some white chocolate ganache to the mix and use turbinado sugar in the shells, and get creative with the decorating.

Also, as Bordeaux pointed out, these are simple to make. It was nice to make something that required fewer ingredients and steps and still ended up looking like a million bucks. I will definately make these again when I want to impress. They remind me of the old rice crispie commercial where the woman pretends that making a big tray of rice crispie treats was a monumental task and uses the time for time out for herself. She reads a book in the kitchen and then throws some water and flour on her face to look like she has been working so hard. A very nice recipe to have in my arsenal.

Thanks to Barbara for creating such a fun event and to Bordeaux for choosing the theme for this round.

Chocolate Coconut Tarts
(For the original version go to Marita Says!)

For the shell-
2 egg whites
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

For the filling-
1 1/4 cups cream, divided (it is easiest to measure as 1/2 C + 1/8 C each - or just eyeball it)
150g dark chocolate, chopped
150g white chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoon seedless black raspberry preserves

Blackberries (or raspberries) to garnish

Make:
Preheat your oven to 180C (350F).

Mix the egg whites, coconut and sugar well. Scoop the mixture into the bottom of large (or regular muffin tins) muffin papers and with wetted hands (works best this way) press it out to create a base. Put into the oven to bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until it begins to lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for one minute. Gently remove the cups from muffin tins but don't remove the papers if you only created a base.

While this is happening, heat 1/2 + 1/8 cups of the cream in a saucepan until almost boiling.

Remove from heat and pour over the chopped dark chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.

Stir until the chocolate has melted into the cream and you have a decadent and rich looking chocolate liquid.

Carefully, pour the dark chocolate halfway up each cup. Put the cups on a plate or tray in the freezer and leave it for 15 minutes or until set.

Heat the remaining 1/2 + 1/8 cup cream in the sauce pan and repeat the steps from above with the white chocolate. Take the shells from the freezer and fill the remainder of the way with the white chocolate.

Heat the raspberry preserves to liquify and drip a few drops into the white chocolate. Use a toothpick to swirl the drops into a marbled pattern. (Note: I actually stirred the raspberry preserves into a little bit of the white chocolate. I'm telling you the way I wish I had done it here. I think it may have kept some of the raspberry preserve color more vibrant.)

Replace the filled shells in the freezer another 15 minutes or until set.

Garnish with blackberries (or raspberries - I just had blackberries on hand) that are brushed with a little of the heated preserves.

Serve them to your guests, or if you are like me, wrap them carefully in plastic wrap and keep them in the refrigerator to hoard for days (ok, the rest of the afternoon anyway!)

HHDD #17 - Pizza - BBQ Chicken & Bacon

I think it must have been fate - and thanks to ChicaJo over at 80 Breakfasts for hosting and choosing this theme - that the theme for my very first Hay Hay It's Donna Day event would be pizza. I only came across Donna Hay last year, but I was happy to find her.

A few years ago I decided to try my hand at making pizza at home. I love pizza and it just costs too much to buy it as often as we would probably like to eat it. I have used several crust recipes over the years and have pretty similar recipes with most versions. I hadn't used this recipe before, but I did like it. I also liked that it was already portioned for one pizza. However, funny enough, this time, I had to double the recipe anyway so that I could make another pizza for my 4 year old. He is allergic to dairy, so couldn't have cheese on his pizza.

I wanted to branch out on the toppings and deviate from the norm of what we do. That idea was universally opposed by the rest of the fam. So, here you have Donna's pizza crust recipe with our usual toppings. It may not be too terribly original to most people, but it is the one we love the very best. BBQ Chicken & Bacon. I've made it with our usual toppings here, but we also like to add sauteed mushrooms, roasted red bell pepper, and actually, my favorite alternative, black beans. (FYI - I had in mind honey garlic grilled shrimp with roasted red bell peppers, fontina, extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil... I will hopefully get to that in the future.) My "dream" choice probably would have been a better entry, but since arguing with a 4 year old at dinner time was too exhausting this time around, we did it his way.

Enjoy!

Here is the Donna Hay recipe:

Pizza Dough(from Modern Classics I by Donna Hay, page 186)

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
Pinch sugar
2/3 cup (5 fl oz) warm water
2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Place the yeast, sugar, and water in a bowl. Set aside until bubbles form.

Add the four, salt, and oil, and mix to form a smooth dough. Knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Place in a clean, oiled bowl, cover, and allow to stand in a warm place until it has doubled in size.

Makes one quantity.

The Dough

For the topping:

1 boneless skinless breast of chicken, rubbed with the following and cooked on grill pan:
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt

Cook through, allow to cool and slice into thin strips

1/4 cup thick-cut bacon pieces, cooked until crispy
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar

fresh cilantro, minced for topping

Favorite BBQ sauce (we like KC Masterpiece Original) (NOTE: I have made my own BBQ sauce with this, but we love this BBQ sauce, and sometimes, the shortcut is worth it).

Roll out pizza dough and top with the BBQ sauce, 3/4 c of the mozzarella cheese, chicken slices, bacon pieces, remainder of mozzarella cheese and the cheddar cheese.

Bake in a 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and top with fresh minced cilantro.