Here in Europe crepes, or french pancakes, are far more popular than american pancakes, so that’s the reason why I only tried the fluffy kind of pancakes only after I turned 20. I had always seen them in the movies but since I wasn’t that interested in cooking, I didn’t make an effort to find out how they were made.
And so for at least 20 years of my life, I only had these thin pancakes called crepes, a word that comes from French. My mom used to make them, but she didn’t have an actual recipe, she made them according to how many people she had to serve or even according to her mood that day.
So when I was on my own, in my own kitchen, I began experimenting. And believe me I have tried many recipes, many of them providing good results, but nothing good enough to make me stop from my search of the perfect pancake recipe.
Raymond Blanc is one of UK’s most respected chefs and owns a restaurant with 2 Michelin stars in Oxfordshire, England. After watching two of his shows I decided to buy some of his books and one of them was Cooking for friends, one of the most famous and appreciated.
This crepes recipe is one of the basic recipes presented in the book and although the ingredients are very much alike the ones you find in other recipes, the results I got were amazing. The crepes were extremely light and delicate and if you need them for a savory recipe, then just omit the sugar and add a little more salt to the batter.
Anyway, can you guess what I”ll be doing after I finish posting this recipe?
I’ll go in the kitchen and make another batch of pancakes! So let the pancake madness begin!
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The best crepes recipe I ever tried (French pancakes)
By Published: January 2, 2013
- Yield: 10-12 pancakes
- Prep: 10 mins
- Cook: 20 mins
- Ready In: 60 mins
Here in Europe crepes, or french pancakes, are far more popular than american pancakes, so that's the reason why I only tried the …
Ingredients
- 60 g butter (2 1/4 oz)
- 2 eggs
- 30 g sugar (~ 2 tbsp)
- 100 g flour (4/5 cup) sifted
- 350 ml milk
- pinch of salt
- butter for greasing the pan
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a pan until it develops a foam and has a nutty color. Pour it into your mixer bowl and then add the eggs, sugar, salt and flour.
- Mix everything well and then pour in the milk, a small amount at a time and continue mixing until the batter is completely smooth.
- Strain the batter through a sieve and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Do NOT skip this step.
- For frying the pancakes, butter the pan lightly and heat it until it's very hot. Pour a small amount of batter and rotate the pan so that all the surface is evenly covered. Cook for about 40 seconds on one side, then flip it with a spatula and cook it on the other side for another 30 seconds.
- Serve as a dessert filled with jam, Nutella or simple, with just icing sugar on top.
Tagged: crepes recipe, french pancakes, french pancakes recipe, raymond blanc, raymond blanc recipes
My name is Adriana and this is my kitchen! I cook, I bake, I photograph, I experiment, I eat and I tell stories! Thank you for stopping by, I'm so glad to have you here! 
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The best crepes recipe I ever tried (French pancakes)
Oh I am craving crepes now, these look so good.
I’m awed by your crepe-making prowess! They’re my Achilles heel… I simply love them, but can’t make a decent stack for the life of me. They always end up managed, burned, or undercooked. It takes a whole batch to get a single nice crepe! Ah well, perhaps I just found my new resolution for 2013?
Hey girls! I’m a big fan of crepes and I’ve been looking for a good recipe for a very long time. And now I dare to say I have found the perfect recipe, since I really couldn’t imagine a better taste or texture for this dessert.
Hannah, in Raymond Blanc’s book it was recommended that for best results when frying the crepes, the best choice is a cast iron pan. And I support you on your resolution, it’s a sweet and tasty one!
Growing up in Germany, my Oma made these on a regular basis. Hers were less sweet, more on the tad bit salty taste, which was evened out by the apply sauce(plain, not cinnamon) that was added on top just before rolling it up. Also, my favorite thing, whatever crepes were left over, were rolled, sliced and then added to chicken broth the next meal for a delicious soup. Yummy!
Apple sauce, not apply. Sorry
The recipe doesn’t call for sugar, yet the directions says to add the sugar with the eggs, flour, and salt.. I didn’t catch that the first I made the recipe and I thought it was pretty good anyways. Now I want to try it! Please, do tell.
@twig – Hi, thanks for stopping by and for trying this recipe! I’m so sorry for my mistake, I added now the amount of sugar. Anyway if you used a jam as a filling for the crepes, I suppose the sweetness of the jam compensated for the lack of sugar in the batter.