The Incredible, Versitile Crepe

Last weekend I attended a great, gluten-free cooking demonstration at the Whole Foods near my sister's house. Jill, the gluten-free baker shared with us two great recipes using Whole Foods gluten-free baking mix. One for biscuits, and the other for hot-cross mini-muffins. I was unable to sample them because they were made with cow's milk, but my sister tried them and loved them both. I also made the biscuit recipe the next day, sans cow's milk and ate about half of what the recipe made for breakfast and lunch -- so needless to say, I approved.

But you might be thinking -- what does this have to do with crepes?

Well, Jill also gave some wonderful tips. Her son has celiac disease so she has the whole gluten-free thing down pat. From what to give him when he goes to birthday parties, to how to approach restaurants about cooking gluten-free -- she was a wealth of knowledge -- and speaking with the other "students" opened my eyes to new products and gave me a chance to share my favorite tips. Though, one of Jill's tips really stuck with me: make crepes! She listed the simplest recipe ever and told us how in her family she uses them as layers in lasagna, as wraps, and as tortillas in Mexican dishes. And there went my lightbulb. I hadn't had a crepe in over a year, so I quickly made the recipe -- and converted it dairy-free, and started playing in the kitchen.


Easy Crepes (gluten-free & dairy-free)

1/2 cup milk alternative (I used almond milk)
1/2 cup gluten-free flour mix (I used a combination of rice flour/buckwheat flour, or rice flour/millet flour)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter alternative (I used Earth Balance)

Mix all of the wet ingredients together and slowly add in the flour mixture. You should have a very thin, crepe-like batter. If it looks too thick -- add more milk, or water. In in a pan (preferably non-stick) on medium-low heat, pour enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan. Be very patient with these and flip only when you can tell they have been cooked through (usually about three minutes). This recipe will make four giant crepes, or six little ones.

The photos above: the first one is filled with grilled eggplant and covered in marinara sauce, the middle photo is of a plain millet flour crepe and the last one is filled with sauted bananas, drizzled with a little agave nectar.)

And Henry says Happy St. Patrick's Day! And that he hopes eveyone likes his festive collar.