As you may recall from my "Let Them Eat Cake" post, January and February in France represent a gauntlet of sorts for all of those well-intentioned New Year's resolutions. January kicks off the King Cake season, and just when you think you are in the clear... BAM, it's crêpe time! On February 2, massive quantities of crêpes are flipped and enjoyed by young and old throughout the country. That's right: there is a crêpe holiday in France. Like many traditions, this one is religious in origin: 40 days after Christmas (by the way, what is up with Christianity and its "40 day" obsession?), the little baby Jesus was presented at the temple and in 472 AD (or thereabouts), the reigning pope decided to make it a Christian holiday. And, like many Christian holidays, this one was basically pasted over an existing "pagan" Roman celebration. To learn a bit more about La Chandeleur or "the crêpe holiday," check out this article:
http://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-celebrate-la-chandeleur-frances-crepe-holiday?mbid=social_facebook.
Last Thursday (February 2), Nico's aunt made hundreds of crêpes and invited the entire street to join in the celebration and this morning, my mother-in-law shared her sweet crêpe recipe with me in a kind of belated initiation to Chandeleur. Verdict? It's much easier than I thought and oh-so-delicious!
Michèle's Sweet Crêpe Recipe
Makes 24-30 crêpes depending on the size of your pan and relative crêpe thickness
4 cups flour
6 eggs
4 ¼ cups milk
A dash of salt
A splash of rum
Oil or butter for the pan (my mother-in-law uses sunflower oil, but I suspect that coconut oil would be fantastic for this - and the hint of coconut flavor would be great with the rum in the batter!)
Some sugar to sprinkle over the top
1.) Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a little well in the middle.
2.) Crack the eggs in a separate bowl and pour into the well in the flour.
3.) With a whisk, begin mixing the flour and eggs as you gradually add the milk. (You want to add the milk slowly as you whisk to avoid lumps in the batter. If your batter has lumps despite your best efforts, try using a hand mixer.)
4.) Throw in a dash of salt and a splash of rum.
5.) Once the batter is smooth and lump-free, it is time to get serious!
6.) Set up your work station. You will need a ladle, a spatula or similar flipping tool (I used a kind of wooden spatula), two plates, a pan approximately the size of a dinner plate, and your fat of choice.
7.) Over medium high heat, heat just a little bit of the oil in the pan and wait a minute for the pan to get hot enough.
8.) Using the ladle, pour enough batter into the pan to cover the entire surface, tilting the pan around so that the batter forms a thin layer all around the pan. If there are holes or you didn't put quite enough batter, you can add a few drops here and there to fill it out.
9.) When the bottom side looks golden brown, slide the spatula under the crêpe and flip. You can't be
hesitant during this part! If the crêpe tears a little bit, you can usually patch it up by patting the bits together with your spatula.
10.) The second side cooks much more quickly. When it has little brown dots all over, you're good to go! Slide the crêpe onto one of the plates.
11.) Add a teensy bit more oil to the pan and start over!
12.) While the next crêpe is cooking, sprinkle some sugar over the finished crêpe, fold it in half and then in half again, and place on the second plate.
13.) Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with jam, Nutella, or whatever else your heart desires!
Bon appétit!
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