Nutella crepes...yum...

My Little One likes Nutella... and I have to admit, so do I. Last night while she was in her Russian class... yes, Russian...now she'll be fluent in French, and at least have a smattering of Russian, and I think she hopes to test Italian as well... go her! Anyway, while she was in class I thought I'd do the good momma thing and make dinner. She wanted spaghetti, so I made marinara sauce and let it simmer, and then I decided to really go all out and make Nutella crepes for dessert. How could I resist... dinner from Italy, dessert from France, and a smidge of Russian, what an international night, huh?

Let me just say... YUM! So I thought I'd share them with y'all in case you wanted to have a special, and easy, dessert to share with someone you love.

This is a recipe I have adjusted from a few others, it suits me well. Makes 4 relatively large crepes, and rarely fails me. (Trust me on this, I am not a professional baker, if I can do this, YOU can do this!)

You need:
2 eggs
1/2 cup of all purpose flour (a scant half cup)
2/3 cup of milk
2 T sugar
1 t vanilla
1 T melted butter

You will also need a shallow, flat bottom pan and some spray oil. Crepe pans do exist out there, but I will forever prefer one of my two "go to" pans... I use a 10", well seasoned, cast iron griddle. I LOVE my cast iron, and I use this flat one for everything from french toast, to crepes and pancakes, to grilled cheese and anything else I can think of.

First, put your pan over heat to get it hot. I turn mine about one notch past medium toward low, you want it hot enough to cook it relatively fast, but definitely not so hot it burns it. The batter will be thin, really thin, so keep that in mind. Now, as a user friendly tip, when you put the batter in the pan, you will have to "swirl" the pan to spread it out thin (that's why the batter is thin), so I wrap the handle of mine in a carefully folded dish towel and make sure to keep that well away from the heat source.

Blend your ingredients until they are smooth, you want few lumps in this batter, the smoother the better. It is going to be thin, and you want it that way. Lightly spritz the bottom of the hot pan with the spray oil, and then pour 1/3 of a cup of the batter in the center of the pan, and swirl it fast to coat the bottom. (This is where that towel wrapped around the handle comes in very handy.)

It doesn't take very long for the crepe to cook. Unlike the pancakes I made many blog posts ago, you cannot depend on the little bubbles to tell when these are finished, what you do look for is...





The top of the crepe begins to go from shiny to dull...













The edges of the crepe begin to pull away from the pan...










And, if you are really brave (or maybe crazy) you gently tug on the edge, and if it comes easily away from the pan, it is ready to be flipped.





Loosen the crepe all the way around with an off set spatula or a butter knife, and then... with drum rolls and fanfare if you can, flip the crepe.

I usually bring my knife about a third of the way under the crepe from the edge of the pan, gently lift it, and flip, and ta-daaaaaa.... you have a crepe flipped and finishing.

Another minute or so and it is finished. Take it out of the pan, and set it on a plate while you make the next. I keep mine covered with plastic wrap because they dry out really easily.

When you are finished with all of them, you can use them right away, or they can be frozen. Just let them thaw totally before you use them, and separate each with waxed paper. Since we were having them for dessert, I just left them covered until my Little One got home.

When we were ready to eat them, I spread a little Nutella on one side of them, not a whole lot, it packs a lot of flavor. Fold the non Nutella side over the Nutella side, so that you have a half moon. Fold the left side to the middle, then the right side over to make it triangle shaped. Or, if you prefer, fold right then left first...we all have our own preferred way.

We had them with a little bit of vanilla bean ice cream and just a little drizzle of chocolate syrup. Heavenly...

You can fill them fruit, custards, pretty much anything at all... top with sauces, whipped cream, a dusting of powdered sugar or a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar... the possibilities are endless.