Gluten Free-Milk Free Crepes

This recipe was an inspiration from a friend--she gave us a list of ingredients and said 3 minutes, what would you make. (Chocolate chips, oatmeal, quinoa, bananas, and peanut butter--my answer was oatmeal-quinoa crepes stuffed with bananas and a peanut butter-chocolate sauce....there were several tasty suggestions such as bars or a hot cereal, that I will have to keep in mind)

I checked several sources on making crepes and came up with with a plan of action. I thought I had all the ingredients on hand--particularly oat/quinoa flour from a the last time I made the PGEW strawberry banana muffins and was a little short on quinoa flour.

However I discovered after cracking my eggs, that I had used my oat-quinoa flour, and had no bananas! So quick fix--whipped up some more flour based on what was on hand--lentil and quinoa which took a bit to grind-sift-grind to a fine flour; that took, maybe 10-15 minutes. I used 5 eggs because I had no idea what I would do with one lonely egg since I normally cook them in pairs...I'm sure this would be fine with 1 less egg!

I was concerned about my chocolate almond milk--but fortunately I bought the unsweetened kind, so it was not an issue. Most recipes I saw called for 3-4 eggs and anywhere from 2/3c flour to 2 c flour. As well, there was a range on the liquid ratio from 1-2 cups. They all seemed to yield 8-10 crepes.

5 whole eggs
2c quinoa/lentil flour (1 c each)
pinch of salt
2 c Almond Milk, Chocolate (unsweetened)
2 T unsalted butter melted
1 T unsalted butter (for use in pan)

Since this morphed from my original vision based on what was actually in my cabinet, I had to come up with new use. They became lunch for me and my mom--salami sandwiches (4 pc salami, f cherry tomatoes halved, one pepper--the sweet ones that come red, yellow, and orange and are about finger length-- sliced, 3 rings of onion, kale leaf. Assemble on one half of crepe, fold crepe over and slice in half. To eat, kinda wrap-fold the crepe half so it's manageable and will not fall apart when bitten.

I don't buy specialty flours because they are way too expensive but I do generally have the ingredients on hand and a spice grinder (really a coffee grinder used to grind spices, grains, bread...) If you are grinding--don't over fill the grinder or stuff will go all over if when you pop the lid off. Grind then dump into a fine strainer, shake. I alternated lentils and quinoa and just guessed when to stop. I did have to grind a little more since I had decided I wanted 2 cups.

Crack and beat the eggs just until just barely frothy. Add the flour in a half cup at a time. Make sure is smooth before adding the next half cup.

About half way through, the mixture will start to get hard to whisk because it's getting thick--add 1/3 to half of the almond milk to keep it thin and workable. Continue adding the flour tipping bowl to whisk the flour off the sides and to make sure there are no lumps.

Add the melted butter, pinch of salt, and the remainder of the almond milk. You should have a concoction that is about as thick as heavy whipping cream and looks like a bowl full of stone ground mustard.

Put the batter in the fridge for for 45 minutes or longer. (Mine sat in there for an hour.) According to the recipes I used as a guide, this will ensure the crepes don't crack when you flip them because it lets the air bubbles settle out.

Heat your skillet using medium heat. Nothing worse than trying to cook in a cold pan, so randomly flick some cold water in the pan...when it sizzles, the pan is ready.

Once the pan is heated, use a quarter cup measure and pour the batter in to the pan swirling as you do. Let cook a couple minutes and then flip and cook a couple more on the other side. Continue until the batter is gone. (Best way to know when to flip is shake the pan...if the crepe moves when you shake it, it's ready. If you have to encourage it to move with a pancake turner, it's not quite ready and will crack when you flip it or turn it out of the pan.) Add a tiny amount of the remaining tablespoon of butter about every 3-4 crepes--you probably will not go through the entire tablespoon.

The crepes should be thin and flexible. If they are thick--those are pancakes! If they are thin and crispy, lessen the amount of time cooked after flipping.


Serving Size: makes 15-16 8"-9" crepes

Number of Servings: 15

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user RABBELS.