I am a little embarrassed to admit that I had often heard of crepes before coming to Italy, but didn’t know what they were. They sounded to me like a fancy fru fru pastry. Crepes are actually a very thin pancake that are really simple to make. For a delicious dessert, fill them with fruit, or any dessert filling. Italians love them with Nutella, which is really simple, but oh so good! While in France, we enjoyed a crepe filled with honey and coconut. For a savory flavor, fill them with meat, cheese, or vegetables. At the Italian cooking school, we made spinach and ricotta filled crepes topped with a white cream sauce. Talk about delizioso!
A few months ago, I was browsing one of my favorite sources for recipes (http://www.food.com/) and came across this crepe recipe. It is quite sinful, but occasional culinary indulgences are okay every once in a while. Right?
The recipe calls for apple brandy or rum. I didn’t add the alcohol and it was still yummy.
Buon Appetito!
Caramel Apple Crepes
source: www.food.com
- Prep Time : 20 minutes
- Cook Time : 30 minutes
- Yield : 6 servings/2 crepes per serving
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour - 1 cup
- milk - 1 1/2 cup
- eggs - 2
- vegetable oil - 1 tsp
- salt - 1/4 tsp
- nonstick cooking spray
- Filling
- packed brown sugar - 1 cup
- butter - 1/2 cup
- whipping cream (unwhipped) - 3/4 cup
- butter - 1 Tbsp
- tart apples, peeled, cored and very thinly sliced - 1 1/2 cups
- fresh lemon juice - 1 Tbsp
- ground cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
- ground nutmeg - 1/8 tsp
- raisins - 1/4 cup
- apple brandy or rum - 2 Tbsp
- pecan pieces, toasted - 1/2 cup
- powdered sugar - 1/4 cup
- vanilla ice cream
Instructions
Crepes:
- Combine flour, milk, eggs, oil and salt; beat until smooth and lump free.
- Heat a small skillet or crepe pan, spray with non-stick oil and remove from heat.
- Spoon in 2 Tbsp batter; tilt skillet to spread evenly.
- Return to heat; brown on one side.
- Invert pan over paper towel to remove.
- Repeat with remaining batter.
Apple Filling:
- In a heavy small saucepan melt butter, add brown sugar; cook and stir over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved and creamy. Remove from heat. Slowly and carefully stir in whipping cream (mixture will bubble up). Set aside.
- Toss apple slices with lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add apple slices; cook, uncovered, for 4 to 6 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally. Add raisins and 1/4 of the caramel sauce.
- Top crepes (browned side down) with apple mixture and fold (browned side is now showing).
- Place 2-3 crepes on individual serving dishes; top with pecans and dust with powdered sugar.
- Serve with ice cream with caramel sauce drizzled over top.
