Barrington attorney and father of three, John Julian, has a special skill in the kitchen. Turns out, he’s a master at making crepes! (Who knew?) Over the years, the process has become a favorite Julian family activity and, today, John is sharing his crepes recipe with us for our Barrington Family Recipes contest.
We’ve been collecting recipes for our contest since September. Heinen’s grocery store in Barrington has given us seven generous gift cards to give away to seven winners in our contest which is coming to a close. Once we reveal the remainder of our recipes this week, we’ll open in up to a vote and announce our winners by the end of 2013.
(To view all of the Barrington Family Recipes we’ve shared to date, CLICK HERE.)
When John shared his recipe for crepes, which his kids renamed “Roll-Up Pancakes“, we asked him how they became a go-to family recipe and here’s what he had to say:
“Despite the fact I really like to cook, crepes are something that had always impressed me as something I could never pull off. Why the mystique?”
“Maybe childhood trips to that homage to crepe-making, the Magic Pan in Woodfield, made it seem like magic.
Maybe it was the 1970s commercials showing how easily a crepe could supposedly turn into a major disaster in order to sell Teflon pans. I don’t know. But when my wife and I got married, she was already well-versed in making crepes from a recipe that had been on a one-recipe-per-day calendar she once owned. She convinced me that I too could make crepes.
Over the years, Lynda and I have made crepes probably hundreds of times. We believe in getting our kids into the kitchen and this is one recipe they all know and love. As each of our three children grew, we taught them to make crepes too.
Somewhere along the way, one of our toddlers started calling them “roll-up pancakes” and that nickname has stuck. Now, it’s not unusual for them to come home from having spent the night at the home of a friend to tell us they introduced their hosts to the world of roll-up pancakes.
I love this recipe because it’s easy, fun and versatile; it binds our family in so many ways and allows us to share something with other families too.”
So, without further delay, here’s the Julian family’s beloved recipe for crepes. (I mean “Roll-up Pancakes”) …
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John Julian’s “Roll-Up Pancakes”
Makes approximately 12 eight-inch crepes
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
3 large eggs
Directions:
Over medium heat, melt the butter in a small, non-stick stick skillet (approximately 7-8” across).
While the butter is melting (be careful not to let it burn), put the flour in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Use a whisk to stir up the flour to remove clumps and lighten the flour.
Make a well in the flour.
Add the milk and then the eggs.
Remove the butter from the heat and whisk it into the mixing bowl.
Using a heat-proof spatula, remove as much butter from the pan as possible and add it to the mixing bowl.
Whisk the mixture at least until all big lumps are gone (a few little ones are fine). Make sure not to over-mix.
Heat the skillet over medium-high heat, being careful to not let the pan get so hot that the remaining butter would burn.
Using a ¼-cup measuring cup, add ¼ cup of the batter to the pan and swirl the pan until the batter forms a circle around the pan’s edges. (This takes a tiny bit of practice.)
Put the pan back over the medium-high heat and cook the crepe almost until the top appears somewhat dry.
Using a wooden utensil or heat-proof spatula, flip the crepe completely over, and cook an additional 30 seconds.
(When you get really confident, you can flip them into the air and right over without hands or utensils!)
Remove from the crepe from the pan and repeat this process until all batter is used up. I like to keep the cooked crepes warm while I’m cook the entire batch by putting them on an oven-proof plate, covered with a damp paper towel and aluminum foil.
Roll them up with cinnamon-sugar, butter, Nutella, fruit, whipped cream, yogurt…or many, many other favorites! They can even be stuffed with savory ingredients, such as a combination of poultry, cheeses & vegetables or smoked salmon & dill yogurt.
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Stay tuned because we have two more reader-submitted recipes to share here at 365Barrington.com. Then, we’ll open it up to a vote for you to help us select the contest winners and we will announce their names at 365Barrington.com before the end of 2013.
Here’s the Best Part….
The Heinen’s gift card prizes up for grabs include one $250 gift card, one $150 gift card, one $100 gift card and four $50 gift cards. Now that’ll come in handy as you’re shopping for New Year’s Eve!
