I came across a recipe for a Plum Crêpe Cake in Diabetic Living Magazine on my iPad via nextissue that looked… interesting.
It called for store bought crêpes, though, and I saw no need to buy a packet of thin, French(ish) pancakes when I could simply whip up a batch at home – and better!
Fool.
I make crêpes infrequently enough that I destroyed many in the making.
Still, I ended up up with enough to make for a very serviceable dessert.
Warning: this dessert is nice, but not very sweet – you’re not gonna fall over and swear off chocolate cake or berry pie with ice cream or the like – but it is a nice, simple, and pretty good-for-you way to treat yourself after dinner.
INGREDIENTS
Basic Crêpes:
•2 large eggs
•3/4 cup milk
•1/2 cup water
•1 cup flour
•3 tbsp melted butter
Sweet Crêpes (add):
•2 tbsp sugar
•2 tbsp your favorite liqueur (optional)
•1 tsp vanilla
Filling:
•Fresh, ripe plums, thinly sliced
•1/4 tsp cinnamon
•1/4 tsp ground ginger or nutmeg
•8 oz whipped topping
•1/2 tsp vanilla
•Honey
Note: I made a double batch of basic crêpe batter, then divided it in half and made a batch of sweet crêpes and a batch of savory (savory details coming Thursday).
Combine all the crêpe batter ingredients – except for the melted butter – in a blender jar and pulse to blend. With the blender running, drizzle the butter in through the feed hole in the lid and blend until smooth.
Stash in the fridge to settle for a couple of hours.
Toss the sliced plums with the cinnamon and ginger to coat and set aside while the batter in settling.
When ready to prepare the crêpes, remove the batter from the fridge, then heat your pan over medium high (I used setting six on my high-output burner).
Add a couple tablespoons of the batter to the pan, tilting so that the batter spreads into a circle, and cook for one to two minutes, then flip and…
well, crud.
I always screw up (at least) the first several crêpes before I get back in the swing of things and/or truly get my pan hot enough and/or just gather the strength of my convictions (thanks, Julia) and can flip the bugger, then cook the other side for another minute or two before sliding off to a cooling board and getting on with the remaining batter.
I am not a pleasant person to be around in the kitchen while I am working this all out.
Crêpes done and spread out to cool on a board, I was ready to make dessert!
Stir the vanilla into the container of whipped topping and set next to the plums by the board of cooled crêpes.
Arrange some of the sliced plums in the lower half of a crêpe and top with whipped topping.
Starting at the lower bottom, roll up and over the filling, tightening the roll as you go, then set seam side down on a serving platter or in a storage container and continue with the remaining plums, topping, and crêpes.
When ready to serve, drizzle a bit of good honey over the top.
That’s all there is to it – tho’ mebbe the sounds coming from the kitchen while I was cooking the crêpes belied the fact that it is a nice, simple dessert recipe.
I suppose you could always just buy the darned things…
By the way, thanks to the nice folk at Food Network for the basic crêpe recipe and variations.