You know, I never really got into Nutella while growing up. I was much more of a peanut butter girl and put that on everything imaginable. But, a Costa Rican friend of mine told me to try some Nutella in a batch of crêpes and watch the miracle happen. Before I did the research and actual testing on my own, I wondered how different the batters were between waffles, pancakes and crêpes. The basic difference is that waffle batter is the thickest and has the most oil or butter in order to allow the outside to crisp up in the waffle iron. Waffle batter should also have whipped egg whites folded into the batter just before putting into the iron, which helps with the lightness overall. Pancake batter is slightly thinner and doesn’t use the same amount of fat so the texture is fluffy and soft. Crepes are the thinnest of the three and usually use more milk and eggs than flour.
According to the Arcadie Company, crêpes come from the Brittany region of France originally made from buckwheat, since white flour was considered a delicacy that only the most wealthy could afford. Eventually, the price of white flour came down and farmers became wealthier, thus enjoying crêpes in the sweet form and perfecting them to the French crêpe that we now lust after.
Now that you have the history of crêpes I’ll bring you up to the present when we entertained some guests the other night and our friend whipped up some strawberry and banana crêpes with Nutella. They were simple to make and it was a great dessert rather than breakfast. We based the crêpe batter off of this recipe.
Here’s what we ended up with and below are the instructions:
Contents
Soy Milk Crêpes with Nutella, Strawberries and Bananas
Ingredients
- 1-1/3 cup unsweetened soymilk
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 whole banana, peeled and sliced
- 6 strawberries, sliced
- 4 Tbsp Nutella
- Chocolate Syrup, to decorate
Directions
- Place soy milk, flour, egg whites and water into a bowl and wisk rapidly until well-combined. A mixer or blender will work here too.
- Heat a medium-sized, shallow skillet on medium heat. Melt 1/2 tsp of butter in the pan and pour 1/8 Cup of batter in the center of the skillet and lean/swirl the pan to spread out the batter as thin as possible
- When the edges begin to look dry, lift with a fork to check the color. Once the crêpe is golden brown on the bottom, using the fork on the edge, roll the crêpeinto a cylinder and place on a cookie sheet in the oven at 200 degrees.
- Continue this process with the butter, pan and then cookie sheet until all the batter is used.
- When plating, spread a thin layer of Nutella on the top of the crêpe, followed by several slices of banana and strawberry. Top with a little chocolate syrup and serve warm.