Viva Les Crepes!

At an impromptu dinner party this week I served a dessert I had not made before. I keep a stack of crepes in my freezer just for these impulsive parties. I started baking crepes at a very young age. I have 6 younger brothers and for their birthday parties we always served crepes. My mother put me to work with 2 pans and a large bowl filled with the batter. It was assembly line crepe baking! Each boy could easily eat four: multiplied by ten makes quite a stack of “pannekoeken”, the Dutch word for crepes.

For this dessert I sautéed ripe bananas, wrapped them up in a crepe, decorated the plate with chocolate lines, put the filled crepe on top and served it with a dollop of whipped crème.

Crepe batter: Put in Cuisinart in the following order: 1 cup milk

                                                                 1 cup water

                                                                 4 egg yolks

                                                                 2 Tb sugar

                                                                 3 Tb rum or brandy

                                                                 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

                                                                 6 Tb melted butter

                      Blend at top speed for 1 minute,

                      Cover and refrigerate for two hours or overnight.

Heat oil on moderate high heat in a crepe pan until it sizzles. Pour ¼ cup batter in pan and tilt pan in all directions to make a round crepe. Lift up with spatula, when bottom is slightly browned turn over and brown other side. Remove to plate and repeat. Separate crepes by waxed paper.

Slice bananas in half, then slice lengthwise, sauté in 6 Tb of butter on low heat, until nicely browned, remove to plate. Pour ½ cup rum or brandy in pan, add 1/3 cup sugar and simmer until sugar has melted. Add more butter if necessary. Add crepes, one at a time to coat with rum butter. Put two banana pieces on top of each crepe, fold into package, put on plates decorated with chocolate syrup and serve with whipped cream.