crepes just crepes

I made crepes on Thursday with my friend Ellen! Having only had them in France with Nutella, but aware that they are beginning to have a cult following in Austin with a few crepe trailers popping up about town, I was eager to try my hand at them. The sno cone trailer trend was followed by the cupcake trailer trend and now, evidently, we have mobile crepes.

Crepes are similar to pancakes but flatter and often sweeter. They're typically consumed as a dessert but people are packing all kinds of things into them. I had a chicken avocado crepe at Sweet Eugene's once. It was surprisingly good. So feel free to stuff it with anything that delights your heart.

Ellen did not know that she'd be subjected to my food photography when she agreed to hang out and bake with me. She was a good sport about that and about the cast iron pan with a burning handle that she had to swirl and twirl.

crepes
from The Culinary Institue's Breakfasts and Brunches
{serves 8}
INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
melted butter or vegetable oil to coat pan as needed
DIRECTIONS
Sift the flour, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, blend the milk, eggs, butter and vanilla. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until the batter is smooth. I strained the mixture through a mesh colander to be sure it was as smooth as possible, whisking the lumps in the colander. Heat small non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Brush with butter or oil. Pour about 1/4 cup batter into the pan, swirling and tilting the pan to coat the bottom with batter. Cook until the first side is set and has a little color, slightly golden with specks of light brown, about 2 minutes. Lift the crepe and turn it over {the C.I.A. recommends using a rubber spatula for this step} Cook the other side about 1 minute more.

{serving suggestions}
avocado and spicy ranch dressing
bananas and peanut butter
strawberris and chocolate syrup
powdered sugar and bluberry syrup
and Nutella...of course

Aaaaand mine's the messy one. So precious. Don't worry, I added bananas and peanut butter as well. And ate about ten.
But they're thin. And made with healthy things like milk, flour and eggs.
So it's ok.