Crepes – Spinach & Dessert – Gluten & Dairy Free!

Crepes.  Yes, this month’s ratio rally is all about crepes.  I have cooked crepes for decades.  Not once I had to eat sans gluten though.  I was looking forward to making these again!!

It is so easy to cook up a batch.  They are extremely versatile!  You can fill them with anything… well except a liquid!! 

This month’s ratio rally hostess with the most-est is  T.R. at No One Likes Crumbly Cookies.  Please check out her page for all the links to all the great crepe recipes for this month!

In case you are new to the ratio rally – we are a group of gluten free bloggers who create gastronomic delights using a ratio for a particular food item.  This month it is crepes.  Cooking & baking by ratio is using a specific ratio of ingredients in order to produce consistent yummy results in the kitchen.

Who doesn’t like consistency in the kitchen??!!!  Yummy consistency makes it that much more special!

Most of us grew up cooking and baking with measuring our ingredients with cups and spoons.  This works well with gluten-full items.  But the weights of various gluten-FREE flours is vastly different from each other AND from wheat flour.  I know I have had my share of gluten-free disasters in the kitchen!  Using specific ratios and weighing out ingredients make gluten free cooking & baking so much easier!

The bonus to weighing and ratios – consistently edible gluten free food coming from MY kitchen!  This can be your success as well.  Trust me on this one.  Another bonus to all this is being able to substitute flours and expect to have generally the same results, though not in taste of course.

I wanted to make a dinner crepe and a dessert crepe for this rally.  And I did!

Rhulman’s crepe ratio is 1 liquid : 1 egg : 1/2 flour and my ratio is very close to that with a slight decrease in the liquid to about 3/4.  This is basically a very thin pancake batter with no leavening agent.

Basic Crepes

1 & 1/2 ounces brown rice flour

1 ounce brown teff flour

1 & 1/2 ounces sweet rice flour

8 ounces eggs (4 large)

4 ounces almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)

2 – 3 ounces coconut milk beverage (or other non-dairy milk)

1/2 teaspoon salt

coconut oil for greasing the skillet, use sparingly

Weigh out all the flours into a stand mixer bowl.  Zero out the scale and weigh out the eggs.  Zero out the scale again and weigh out the almond milk (or any other non-dairy milk of choice).

Mix together with the paddle until there are no lumps.  Let batter sit a minimum of 30 minutes and up to overnight.  The flours need to hydrate for better cooking results.

I used an 8-inch cast iron skillet to cook my crepes.  It worked beautifully!  Preheat your skillet on a low to medium-low heat.  Make sure the pan is completely heated before you start cooking the crepes.

Add a small amount of coconut oil to your heated skillet.  Just a thin coating on the bottom and up the sides.  Too much and your crepe will be greasy and heavy.

The technique for cooking crepes is in the wrist action.  Immediately after adding 1/4 – 1/3 cup of batter into your pan you need to rotate the pan so that you coat the bottom of the pan completely with a thin layer of batter.  The operative word is THIN layer of batter!    I made a double batch and only had to re-grease my pan twice.  I think I got a total of 24 – 26 crepes… sorry I forgot to count them and they are now… gone.

Set the pan back onto the burner for a minute or two.  The edge of the crepe will pull away from the pan, indicating it is ready to be turned.  I coax a thin spatula under the edge of the crepe and then flip it.  Set back on burner for another minute and transfer onto a plate.  Repeat with all the batter.  You can see my plate of crepes at the top of this recipe.  Your crepes should be slightly browned (freckled) but not crisp.  These need to remain flexible to roll around something yummy!

OPTIONS:

for dinner crepes you can add chives, or spices to compliment your filling.  for dessert crepes add to the batter: 2 – 4 Tablespoons sugar depending on your taste and 1 teaspoon vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice or a combination equal to 1 teaspoon.

For our dinner I made Spinach Crepes.

Spinach Crepes

8 (8-inch ) crepes

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup Earth balance soy-free buttery spread

2 Tablespoons organic lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup thick cream sauce (I make mine with 2 TBSP Earth Balance, 4 TBSP rice flour, 1 cup dairy free milk, 1 teaspoon chicken bullion)

3 eggs, beaten

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen spinach, thawed & drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In large saucepan, cook onion in Earth Balance until transparent; stir in lemon juice, salt, pepper, cream sauce and eggs.  Cook and stir about 5 minutes.  Stir in spinach; heat thoroughly.  Place about 1/2 cup spinach mixture on each crepe; roll up and place seam side down in 13 x 9 baking dish.  Bake 10 – 15 minutes or until hot.

Serves 4.

Dessert crepes are laughably easy but look so elegant on the plate!  I used warm applesauce in the crepe and sprinkled them with powdered sugar.  You can do the same thing using jelly, jam or preserves.  You could also use a pie filling, pudding, or mousse!  You can use a chocolate or  fruit sauce instead of the powdered sugar.  For breakfast we will have warmed crepes with huckleberry jam and sprinkled with powdered sugar.  These would also be great to serve with tea at tea time!!

You can store the leftover crepes in the refrigerator and reheat briefly in the oven, toaster oven (don’t crisp them!) or a skillet on the stove.  These also freeze well.  Place wax paper between each crepe, thaw or reheat in oven or in a skillet.

Blessings, ~Mrs. R (aka Aunt Mae)

Here is a list of all the other crepe creations!

Tagged as: cast iron pans, cooking, crepes, dairy free, gluten free, ratio rally, recipes