Three Crepe Recipes For Mother's Day

If you're looking for the perfect way to thank Mom this year, letting her sleep in while you cook her up a decadent breakfast is certainly not a bad way to start. These gluten-free crepes, nutty and wholesome tasting from the buckwheat, thin and lacy and slightly crispy on the edges, are guaranteed to please.

There's a million different ways to enjoy crepes. The simplest and most elegant, perhaps, is with a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of lemon. A drizzle of honey, a spoonful of yogurt or a slather of nut butter or jam are also notable favorites. To make this feel truly decadent, however, I like to serve the crepes with both a sweet and a savory option — a main serving and a dessert, if you will. For the savory, I've gone with the classic spinach, mushroom, and gruyere combination folded up into a little triangular parcel just like you'd get on the streets of Paris. For the sweet, fresh strawberry and banana drizzled in a decadent hot fudge sauce is hard to beat.

By making the crepe batter the night before, you'll not only have one less thing to do in the morning, but will also make the crepe-making process far easier by giving the batter a chance to sit. Along with getting the temperature of the pan just right, this will ensure crepe-making success. But for this delicious breakfast to truly be a success with Mom, make sure you don't forget to clean the kitchen up and wash all the dishes when you're done...

Buckwheat Crepes

Makes 16 crepes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups buckwheat flour
• ½ sea salt
• 3 cups water
• 3 medium eggs

Ingredients:

1. Place the buckwheat flour in a bowl and add the salt, water, and eggs, whisking well.
2. Once the batter is completely smooth, cover and chill for at least one hour, ideally overnight.
3. When ready to make the crepes, take the batter out of the fridge and whisk it again. It should have the consistency of heavy cream. If it's too thick, stir in a little water 1 tablespoon at a time until the consistency seems right.
4. Lightly butter a 10-inch nonstick skillet or crepe pan and heat it over medium-high heat. It should be ready when a splash of water from your fingertips sizzles when it hits the pan.
5. Once hot enough, pour ¼ cup of the batter into the pan, lifting and turning the pan to spread the batter out in an even layer (if the pan is hot enough, the batter should sizzle and immediately produce lots of small holes, so if this doesn't happen, increase the heat).
6. Flip the crepe after 1 minute, cook 30 seconds more and then remove it to a dinner plate.
7. Continue cooking the rest of the batter in this way, stacking the crepes up on the plate. Any crepes that you aren't planning to use immediately can be wrapped and refrigerated or even frozen for later use.

Spinach, Mushroom and Gruyere Filling

Makes enough filling for 8 crepes

Ingredients:

• Butter or oil
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup grated gruyere cheese
• 4 cups baby spinach
• salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Sauté the mushrooms in a little butter or oil until they are lightly browned and most of the moisture has been cooked out of them. Season with a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper.
2. Heat a nonstick skillet or crepe pan over medium heat and brush lightly with butter or oil.
3. Lay a cooked crepe onto the pan and top one half of the crepe with ¼ cup mushrooms, 2 tbsp of the cheese and ½ cup of the spinach, seasoning with salt and pepper.
4. Fold the crepe in half, to cover the filling, then fold in half again to create a triangular parcel.
5. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook for another minute on the other side, or until the cheese has melted.
6. Serve immediately, or place the crepes on a tray in a low oven to keep warm until ready to serve.

Banana, Strawberry and Hot Fudge Filling

Makes enough filling for 8 crepes

Ingredients

• ½ cup (100 g) coconut cream (scooped from the top of a can of coconut milk)
• 2 oz (60 g) dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp cacao powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 2 bananas, sliced
• icing sugar, optional

Instructions:

1. To make the chocolate sauce, place the coconut cream in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Once the cream is mostly melted, add the remaining ingredients.
3. Stir constantly until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth and silky. Remove from the heat.
4. To assemble, lay a crepe flat on a plate. Place a line of sliced strawberries and bananas along one edge, drizzle over a generous amount of the hot fudge sauce and then roll the crepe up into a cigar like parcel.
5. Serve with extra chocolate sauce drizzled over the top and a dusting of powdered sugar.

Note: if you're feeling extra-decadent, a scoop of yogurt, whipped cream or even ice-cream on top wouldn't go amiss.

Writer Danielle Charles Davies holds a Bsc in Herbal Science from Bastyr University and completed the two-year clinical training program at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism in Montpelier, VT. Her writing has appeared in Taproot, The Journal of the American Herbalist Guild, and Kindred Magazine, among others. She lives in Northern Michigan with her husband, two dogs and eight ducks. She blogs at www.bluemoonkitchen.com.

For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, or sell any product.