Crepe recipe

I've loved crepes ever since the day TCBY opened in Hays sometime in the'80s and I first sampled the deliciosity of strawberry banana crepes. From there, the love affair continued with Swedish crepes with lingonberries and IHOP's spinach-mushroom crepes with hollandaise sauce. But I've always been afraid to make them in my own kitchen. They seemed too intimidating, too time-consuming, too messy to bother with.

Until today.

The Vegetarian Times has a story this month on crepes, and I decided to try the Parisian-style Sweet Crepes. They were surprisingly easy (as easy as pancakes or waffles), and yummy, too. In fact, the entire family enjoyed them, which is pretty rare in our house of picky eaters.

So here's how you make them.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten (I didn't bother to beat the egg I used because I'm lazy like that)
1 cup low-fat milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract (as usual, I just poured without measuring)

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Whisk in egg; mixture will be shaggy. (Don't you love that description?) Whisk in milk 1/4 cup at a time. Whisk in vanilla. Cover and chill 30 minutes or over night.

2. Whisk 1/4 to 1/2 cup water into batter to thin. Lightly grease 9-inch non-stick skillet with canola oil (I just used regular old vegetable oil.) Heat skillet over medium heat until drops of water sizzle (just like for pancakes).

3. Pour 1/4 cup batter into hot skillet, tilting pan to swirl batter so it coats bottom of pan. Cook 1 to 2 minutes until edges begin to brown and center is dry. Flip; cook 30 seconds to 1 minutes longer.

4. Transfer crepe to plate, and repeat with remaining batter. Serve with butter and jam, Nutella, sugar, fruit, apple butter, or whatever other yumminess you have lying around your kitchen looking for a home. If your crepes get cold before you eat them (ours didn't), reheat them for a minute in a lightly greased pan.

Enjoy!