This is like my recurring dream...

For years I had this recurring dream. Not frequently, but maybe once or twice a year. It was something like this:

Phone rings. I answer, but forget to say hello. Because I never say hello, noone responds. I'm sure that someone is there and I know that if I had just said hello, that person would respond. But, since I missed my chance to say hello (and there is an illogical dream rule that states that once missed, I couldn't get that chance back). The mysterious caller and I would just sit there in a dreamy stalemate, listening to silence. At this point I would wake up, rather frustrated.

A few weeks ago, I realized that this blog had turned into something like this dream. Once I had gone a couple of weeks without posting, I felt like I had lost my chance! I would look at it and just continue to wait...

Well, this morning, I made crepes, and they were fabulous!!! Oh my! I can't just let this one slip by my blog, oh no.

So here goes. I just woke up from my dream, and now I'm going to post again. Wish me luck!

This recipe comes from my Mother-in-Law. When she made it for me the first time (just after I was married), there was no fruit in it, just the crepes, syrup, and whipped cream. It was so good! We have added the fruit and I think its even better!



Fruit Filled Crepes with Orange Syrup

For the Crepes:
1 c. milk
3 eggs
3/4 cups flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Combine the ingredients in the blender and blend on high speed 1 minute until smooth. Allow to sit for a while (I made the syrup during this time).

Heat an 8" crepe pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle a few drips of water on the pan; if they sizzle, the pan is ready to use. Coat hot pan with a spray of oil, or a drizzle of butter.

Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the skillet. Immediately pick up the pan and tilt and swirl it so that the batter covers the entire bottom of the pan. Pour any excess batter back into the bowl.

Loosen the edges of the crepe with a metal spatula. You can use a spatula to turn the crepe, or you can use your fingers. Using both hands, pick up the loosened edges with your thumb and index finger and quickly flip it over.

Cook on the other side until lightly golden (usually less than a minute). and slide it out onto a plate. I stacked them on top of each other and they didn't stick. If you are making them for later use, you may want to separate them with wax paper.

For the Syrup:
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Bring honey and butter to a boil, remove from heat and add the orange juice and orange peel. At this point, I added a bit of vanilla.

To Serve:
Sliced bananas
Fresh or frozen fruit: blueberries, strawberries, etc.
Unsweetened or lightly sweetened whipped cream
Orange Syrup
Crepes

Roll crepes with fruit inside (and a little syrup). Top with additional fruit, syrup and whipped cream.

Blueberry Pancakes with Blackberry Syrup

Ok, Sean is crazy about blueberry pancakes. Just plain crazy. He makes a rich blackberry syrup every summer and carefully hoards it in the freezer. Maybe, just maybe, if you are nice, he will give you a taste. No guarantees, though.

For the blackberry syrup, we don't really have a recipe. We just cook the berries a bit and strain out the seeds and pulp, and make a syrup by adding sugar and boiling for a while. Sean freezes it and gets it out for his pancakes, and returns it when he is done.

I make waffles/pancakes pretty much every Saturday. The kids aren't usually allowed to eat the special blackberry syrup, so they usually stick with waffles and homemade maple syrup, or homemade *buttermilk syrup. Sean always wants his made into blueberry pancakes.

I found that I have eaten as many pancakes (blueberry or not) in my life as I will ever need, and that I just do not require more, ever. For some reason, I do not feel the same way about waffles, and I am more than happy to eat waffles. Just don't give me pancakes. Sean is more than happy with that because, as his equal (i.e., I'm not one of the kids), I have every right to the blackberry syrup. Since I don't want blueberry pancakes, I don't really require the blackberry syrup. Less for me=more for him.

When I made pancakes/waffles, yesterday, I made raspberry syrup. It was not nearly as rich as Sean's blackberry syrup, but I thought it turned out rather nice.





Blueberry Pancakes

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries (slighly defrosted)

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add buttermilk, egg yolks and oil. Stir to combine.

Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into the batter until fully incorporated. Do not over mix. You want the batter to be light and fluffy.

Butter a hot skillet. Add about 1/3 cup of batter. Top with a handful of blueberries. When the top of the pancake bubbles, then carefully flip the pancake. After a minute or two, flip the pancake again and check around the blueberries to see if the batter is cooked through. If there is any oozing batter, then cook a little longer.

Raspberry Syrup

1 cup water (or less, if you want it thicker)
2 cups sugar
1 pkg frozen unsweetened raspberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or more, if you like that flavor a lot)

Combine the sugar, water, and frozen raspberries in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Boil for 1 minute. With a fork, stir and mash the raspberries. Strain, using a fine mesh sieve. Press the solids to extract every last bit of flavor that you can. Flavor with the vanilla and almond extract.

* I'm not giving you the recipe for buttermilk syrup because it is evil. It involves large amounts of butter.