Valentine’s Day breakfast: dairy free Parisian crepes

Valentine’s Day breakfast

When I started planning this year’s Valentine’s Day celebration, I looked back to the first trip that Therese and I took together, to Paris over Memorial Day weekend of 2010.  We have spoken about going back to Paris, but of late the prices for hotels and such are pretty high, so we have put it off for the time being.  But since we both miss Paris, I thought, why not bring Paris to New York for one day?  So my idea was to give Valentine’s Day a Paris theme, to eat some of the foods that we so much enjoyed when we were there, and indulge in some entertainments that remind us of Paris.

Dairy Free Crepe batter

CucinaPro Electric Crepe Maker

It all started with a breakfast of dairy free Parisian crepes.  To get an idea of what might be appropriate to put on the crepes for breakfast, I consulted a blog entry written by David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris.  I decided that some yogurt, fresh fruit and confectioner’s sugar would make the perfect fillings for our crepes.

The night before Valentine’s Day, I put together my crepe batter (thanks to this recipe in the Something Savory blog for the proportions):

1 cup flour
1-1/4 cup almond milk (unsweetened original flavor)
2 large eggs
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt

I made it the night before because it has to rest for at least an hour in the refrigerator before being made into crepes, and I did not wish to make our morning get off to a slow start (we had a very full day planned, as you will see in my future posts later this week).  It’s very simple to make, thought: just whip up the eggs in a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients,  mix until the ingredients are all well-incorporated, cover it with some cellophane, and put it in the fridge.  Voila!

Beginning breakfast – the first crepe

Crepe grilling

The first thing in the morning, I got out my batter, my filling ingredients and my CucinaPro Crepe Maker, plugged the crepe maker in and let it heat up for a couple of minutes, put just a drop of olive oil to grease the grilling surface up a bit, and it was time to make the first crepe.  Apparently, there is a tradition that the first one is always a throwaway that doesn’t come out right.  But I am determined that even the first one comes out good.  I did a little better this time: I have had some practice and am now getting pretty skilled with using my crepe spreader.

After that, it’s just a matter of making crepe after crepe until they’re all done, 30 seconds on each side, more or less.  The recipe makes about 10.  Since Therese and I just ate 2 each for breakfast that morning, we had lots of leftovers for another breakfast over the following weekend!

These crepes came out so light and delicated, and the fillings made great crepes!  I sliced up some strawberries and sprinkled a little sugar over them to make a little syrup, and rinsed off some blueberries.  Then of course, I used a dairy free yogurt, namely, So Delicious greek yogurt, which is made with coconut milk.  Very nice: thick and creamy.  For each crepe, I did a little stream of yogurt, dropped a handful of fruit on top, then sprinkled a little bit of confectioner’s sugar over that, rolled it up and ate it.  Therese pronounced them very reminiscent of crepes she has had in Paris, which for me is the best seal of approval (I liked them too).  Our Valentine’s Day was off to a good start!

Crepe with fruit and coconut milk yogurt