I know what you’re thinking. Are the style posts ever coming back? Or is it going to be cookies, crepes and carrot cakes from here on out? They will be back in rotation this week – scout’s honor. But I want to talk about Sunday morning first.

My daughter and I watched Julie and Julia (loved!) which inspired us to make crepes from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Six simple ingredients were whipped together in a blender, chilled, then swirled into a hot pan, each cooking in mere seconds. We even decided to try our hand at tossing the crepes in the air to flip them over. I was expecting disaster but it worked! We giggled in sheer delight over them actually landing in the pan. I was so proud of her. And it felt really good to laugh.

CREPES

adapted slightly from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

makes about 25-30 crepes, 6-7 inches in diameter

• 1 cup cold water
• 1 cup cold milk
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• canola oil

1. Pour water, milk, eggs salt, flour, and melted butter into a blender in that exact order. Blend at top speed for 1 minute. Scrape down inside of blender with a spatula and blend a few seconds more.
2. Pour batter into a bowl, cover, and chill. The book says to chill for 2 hours. We were impatient and made them after only 45 minutes and they were just fine.
3. Heat skillet or crepe pan with a 6 1/2 – 7 inch diameter bottom over medium to medium high heat and brush with canola oil.
4. Fill a 1/4 cup measuring cup two thirds of the way, remove pan from heat and hold handle in one hand while pouring batter into the middle of the pan with the other hand, then swirl it around immediately to coat the pan in a thin layer of the batter. To quote Julia, “This whole operation takes but two to three seconds.”
5. Place pan back on the heat. When batter sets and underneath is light brown (peek by lifting with a spatula), flip crepe over by tossing or by pulling edge closest to you up and over with your fingers (carefully!). The book says it takes 60-80 seconds for one to reach light brown, but it took ours only 45 seconds. Just keep your eye on it – you’ll know.
6. Cook on other side for only a few seconds. This second side will not be pretty and will have brown spots, but you’ll make this the side no one sees, so don’t worry.
7. Stack cooked crepes in a lidded dish, cover, and keep warm in a low oven.
8. Fill with cinnamon apples (recipe to follow), Nutella, or ham and cheese. Or anything else that strikes your fancy!

Cinnamon Apples

my recipe

serves four (filling 8 crepes)

• five apples of any variety, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
• the juice of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. After slicing apples, place in a large bowl and pour lemon juice over apples. Stir.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sliced apples and stir to coat.
3. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl, then pour over apples and stir.
4. Let apples cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes until apples are softened and a thick syrupy sauce has formed.

Homemade Whipped Cream

• 1 cup cold whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Whisk cold cream with a mixer just until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and whisk until incorporated.

For Nutella crepes, warm a few tablespoons of Nutella in a small bowl in the microwave for 25-30 seconds to soften, then spread on crepes and top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

For a ham and cheese crepe, place a cooked crepe back in the pan over medium-low heat, layer with bits of ham and shredded cheese, then cover with a lid and heat until cheese has melted.

all images via the aesthete and the dilettante