Delicious Weekend Crepes

I decided to make Steven breakfast last weekend as part of his birthday celebration. He loves having a big breakfast on the weekends but most times the last thing I want to do on my day off is spend the morning cooking and making a wreck of my kitchen!

I decided to try to make crepes for the first time, since pancakes tend to be a little heavy for me. I bought a jar of Nutella and some bananas and set about trying to re-create the amazing crepe we shared on our trip to Paris last year:


Steven eats a Nutella and banana crepe on the steps of Sacre Coeur in Paris, October 2009.

After searching through cookbooks and Web sites I wound up combining ingredients from various recipes until I got just the amount of sweetness that I wanted. So here it is!

BANANA NUTELLA CREPES
Ingredients:
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Extra butter, cut into small pieces (about 1/4 tablespoon)
1 jar Nutella spread
2 ripe bananas, thinly sliced

whisk together eggs and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and 1/2 cup milk. Whisk until combined, slowling stirring in the rest of the milk until the batter has a smooth and liquid consistency. Set batter aside for 20 minutes to an hour. After resting, check the batter to make sure it has a consistency like that of heavy cream and is not too thick or lumpy.

Add a piece of butter to a small nonstick skillet (I use one about the size of the crepe I want to make) over medium to medium-high eat. Once the butter melts, use a paper towel to swirl it evenly around the skillet. Pour about 1/4 cup crepe batter into the skillet, swirling it around to make it round and even. Cook the crepe until it is almost cooked through, then flip it over and cook for another 15 seconds or until done. Crepes cook QUICKLY and are not a walk-away type food! Transfer the crepe to a plate and immediately spread with Nutella. Add thinly-sliced bananas and fold the crepe in half. Serve immediately.

The crepes taste best straight out of the pan because they cool off rapidly. I make four crepes for our breakfast, folded them each in half and then right before I served them I tossed them back into the pan for a quick re-heat, which worked out well.

The filling options for crepes are practically unlimited! For sweetness try fruit, chocolate and whipped cream. For a savory version try tomato sauce and tangy cheese.