French crepes with lemon and sugar

Recipe~Finder

Cooking time: Less than 60 minutes

Cuisine: French

Serves: 8

Type: Cake; Pancake

Tools

Kitchen friendly view

Photography: Richard Mortimer

Ingredients

Makes 20
Prep time 10 minutes
Standing time 1 hour
Cooking time 40 minutes
1 ¼ cups (185g) plain flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups (375ml) milk, or half milk and half water
1 tablespoon brandy
20g melted butter, plus extra butter
caster sugar, lemon juice, to serve

Preparation method

1. Sift flour with a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Place eggs and milk into a well in centre of dry ingredients. Using a whisk, gradually draw flour into wet ingredients. Whisk well and stir in brandy and melted butter. Cover and set aside for 1 hour.

2. Transfer batter to a jug. Heat a little extra butter in a heavy-based frying pan or crepe pan. Pour off excess, reserving for when pan needs regreasing.

3. Pour in just enough batter to thinly coat surface of pan. Rotate pan quickly and run batter smoothly and evenly over pan (A). Pour off any excess batter (B). Cook for about 1 minute, until small bubbles appear (C). Flip crepe and cook for another minute (D). Transfer to a warm plate. Repeat with remaining batter, stacking flat on top on one another.

4. To serve, fold crepes into quarters and top with a little sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Tips:

• Leaving the batter to stand allows the starch cells to swell so that they will burst the moment they touch the hot pan, resulting in a lighter crepe.

• Crepes are French pancakes, and are paper-thin and round, resembling a fine lace doily.

Lemon butter

Crepes with lemon ricotta

Lemon and poppyseed friands

Lemon surprise puddings

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