Gluten Free and Easy: Crepes
When I was in middle school – 6th grade, I think – we were all required to take a cooking class. Unbelievably, I still have the “cookbook” the teacher gave us (mimeographed in purple ink, of course.) I shared the contents with my sister a couple months ago. We both shared a great laugh about the WIDE variety of Jello recipes. Ah early 80s in Minnesota. Jello and fruit molds.
Beyond the outrageously funny recipes, there was one that made me smile. The principal (Mr. Johnson?) came in to our cooking class and taught us all how to make crepes. I remember his apron and laugh quite well. It was exciting to learn how to make something as “fancy” as crepes and to have the principal as the instructor? A HUGE bonus, that’s for sure!
I don’t think I continued to make crepes after a few experiments at home. I suppose I considered it more time consuming that it was really worth in the end.
And then my love, in my pre-diagnosis days, took me to a favorite restaurant of his. Everything – and I mean EVERYTHING – is served in a crepe. I don’t remember what he selected, but I do remember being slightly confused by my meal choices as I was accustomed to crepes being filled with fruit or scrambled eggs and ham. I finally settled on a curried-chicken crepe for dinner.
To be honest, it was a bit unremarkable. The seasoning was off and well, my stomach hurt after eating (hmmmm…wonder what that was… ). I wasn’t too keen to ever return to the crepe restaurant again. My love was a bit disappointed to have seen one of his inspired dinner choices bomb for me. And I’m sure he was even more saddened when I announced that I didn’t want to eat there again.
When I received Rebecca Reilly’s cookbook from my mom as a birthday present, I made crepes for the first time for my Love. And they are GOOD. (She’s got an excellent pie crust and more in this book too.) Using her recipes, I introduced my Love to the idea of crepes for breakfast (rather than dinner). They were a hit. They are now part of our regular weekend breakfast rotation.
Neither of us have eaten breakfast for ages. However, that is about to change. We are *trying* to be more diligent about our health and food selections. And we’ve joined a gym which we attend 3-4 nights a week. So far, so good (save for that damn Step class that just about killed me off!).
So now I need some speedy breakfast ideas for the work week/school year when I don’t have the time in the morning (nor the inclination) to make breakfast. This made my mind race back to Rebecca’s crepes. I wasn’t sure if I could store them in the fridge overnight and reheat in the morning or not. So I thought I would try.
Only problem? I’ve loaned my Rebecca book out.
Bah.
Starting over then. I began to surf. I found a great recipe here (in Spanish, FYI). I had to adjust it a bit to make less (it calls for a lot more milk) and convert some measurements. After mixing, the crepes were quick to cook and made for a tasty breakfast. Great, easy crepes.
Mind you, I have yet to try them with some curried chicken…. but that might be a little while for me. But hey, If you give them a taste test for dinner with savory fillings, do let me know!
In the meantime, give this recipe a whirl. You’ll be happy you did!
Gluten Free Easy Crepes
Recipe makes 10 crepes (depends on your pan size!)
Ingredients:
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup (or 50g) cornstarch
1 egg
2 teaspoons olive oil or melted butter
pinch of salt
Directions:
- Mix (I used a small whisk) all ingredients until very well blended.
- Spritz a pan (small, nonstick) with olive oil. Preheat the pan over medium-high heat.
- Pour 2 Tablespoons of batter into the pan while swirling the pan.
- Continue to swirl the pan – OFF the heat! – until th ebatter begins to bubble and there is no longer excess batter to swirl.
- Cook for 20-40 seconds (the first crepe takes the longest… this time is for the quicker crepes) or until steam is puffing out the sides.
- Quickly and with some care, flip the crepe and cook and additional 15-20 seconds.
- Continue until all the batter is used. (Depending upon your pan, you may not have to spritz it with oil between crepes.)
Serve with a wide variety of fillings: fresh fruit, scrambled eggs and ham, cream cheese, raspberry sauces, ham, turkey, avocado, sour cream, etc. I filled mine with raspberries and teeny cream cheese dollops and top it with fresh raspberry sauce. MMMM!
Do you have any quick breakfast tricks for the work week? I would REALLY like to hear them! Any help and tips you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Heck, we’d better get organized! We’re gonna have a little one – or LC (Little Chan as named by Ginger!) to feed in the mornings soon – no more lazy, wake-ups for us! 
Happy GF Eating -
Kate
First of all, I really want to encourage you in your quest for adoption. My husband and I are also looking into adoption, but need to do more research before we take too many steps. Plus, being a one income family makes it a little difficult.
On to the question about good breakfasts for kiddos. My 2(almost 3!!)year old loves breakfast. Here are a some of her favorite morning eats(she tells me when she gets up that she wants a snack, not breakfast!).
-Yogurt with blueberries/strawberries/blackberries and chopped pecans
-Gluten free toast cut into strips with homemade honey cinnamon butter to dip it in
-GF Pancakes and turkey sausage(I make several pancakes and freeze them, taking one out at a time)
-Cottage Cheese and applesauce(or cut up pineapple) with a handful of Walnuts or Pecans
-Frozen Banana with peanut/almond butter and crushed rice chex or nuts(cut banana in half and stick popsicle stick in half, freeze for 30 minutes, spread with peanut butter and roll in nuts or chex then freeze!) It’s like a breakfast popsicle
-Plus the obvious muffins/croissants/cereal/Scrambled Cheesey Eggs/Waffles
I hope that helps!
Sarah Beth
July 24, 2008 at 7:49 am
wow, only cornstarch? I’ll have to try these out one of these days when I”m sick of mixing flours. maybe this will be sunday breakfast??
and speaking of breakfast, I am a HUGE fan of the yogurt “sundae” — I take 0% fageh yogurt and top it with fresh/frozen fruit, cereal/gf granola/crumbled rice cakes, and honey/maple syrup/pomegranite molasses. healthy, super delicious, and incredibly quick! and fun!!
I also like to do frittatas — a quick and easy thing that you can throw together on sunday night with whatever veggies or other leftovers are around, and that you can quickly heat up for breakfast (or lunch!) during the week.
Sarah Beth, your “breakfast popsicle” sounds INCREDIBLE
dana
July 24, 2008 at 9:47 am
We make up Roben Ryberg’s waffle recipe, and triple it, then freeze the extras, and pop them in the toaster as needed. They make good sandwiches, too.
We’ve become quite addicted to the Trader Joe’s granola (and we don’t even have a TJ’s near us).
Cheesy eggs are also one of the boys’ favorites.
Cassandra
July 24, 2008 at 10:45 am
Yum. Oh, I once went to this lovely Creperie. Ahh. So good. Anyways, those look so yummy.
For breakfast, in my house it’s mostly cereal (different type for each person), and my dad has toast, but occasionally, we make Pancakes or French Toast. Or just a whole ton of fruit, with a bit of yogurt or our cereal.
Lauren
July 24, 2008 at 11:47 am
Our weekday breakfasts for this summer have been mostly Rice Chex with a good helping of fresh fruit or fruit smoothies (with added greens). During the winter we rotate through the gluten free hot cereals: grits, GF oats, brown rice grits, kasha, and corn mush (again all with good helpings of fruit) Occasionally we’ll make huevos rancheros or scrambled tofu during the week, and Fridays are usually celebrated with buttery biscuits.
Mary Frances
July 24, 2008 at 6:38 pm
my $.02 tip for crepes: pour a LOT of batter into the pan. don’t measure it. just pour/dip/whatever you do, right on heat. POUR IT RIGHT BACK OUT AGAIN into the mixing bowl, the second it hits the hot pan. you’ll get the thinnest, roundest crepes EVER.
also, NUTELLA and crepe. i haven’t checked the package, to see if it’s GFriendly, i’m sure vegemite isn’t, but vegemite-chicken-crepe is super yummy too. The Mall has a crepe only store now too. i look at it with disdain, the once a year i go to that monstrosity….sweet, savory and meat crepes. and that’s all. WEEEEEEIRD.
rhuby
July 25, 2008 at 8:16 am
or nutella + vanilla ice cream! ooh, now i’m inspired.
rhuby
July 25, 2008 at 8:17 am
Kate, I didnt get to say it before when you posted about your increasing family, but I hope that everything goes smoothly for you. It is so much work and such a long road just to get to the point where you actually get the baby, I wish you total joy and happiness!! Good luck
I love love love crepes, what a great recipe you have here
I’ll have to give it a try! Yum 
Tiffany
July 25, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Kate,
I have seen a couple of recipes lately that call for crepes and thought I couldn’t make them. Well now I can give them a try when I have time:) Thanks for the recipe!
Kimberly
July 26, 2008 at 5:02 am
Yum again… I think I may need to make this this week!
I really want to try to make your lavash bread, I drool over it every time I visit your site… I don’t have a mixer though, do you think it’s essential? Or will rapid whisking do the trick??
Thanks!
I think you could easily whisk the crepe recipe. However, the lavash bread (or other GF breads) really need a mixer – hand held will be fine with the lavash bread. Beating the bread together for a few minutes helps the dough develop. I’m afraid I don’t have the forearm force to whisk together any doughs that heavy! lol – Kate
Allie
August 11, 2008 at 10:17 am
[...] on the weekends that breakfast and brunch can really shine. Gluten free crepes, pancakes, tortilla patata (Spanish egg/potato frittata-like dish), etc are all within reach and [...]
Breakfast anyone? « Gluten Free Gobsmacked
February 16, 2009 at 4:47 pm