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Gluten-Free Crepes with Lemon and Sugar

By America's Test Kitchen

Published on May 23, 2019

Time

1 hour

Yield

Serves 4

Gluten-Free Crepes with Lemon and Sugar

Ingredients

½ teaspoon vegetable oil 5½ ounces (156 grams/1¼ cups) America's Test Kitchen All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend 3 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 1½ cups whole milk 2 large eggs 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooledLemon wedges

Before You Begin

To allow for practice, the recipe yields 10 crêpes; only eight are needed for the filling.

Instructions

  1. Place oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet and heat over low heat for at least 10 minutes. While skillet is heating, whisk flour blend, 11/2 teaspoons sugar, and salt together in medium bowl. In separate bowl, whisk together milk and eggs. Add half of milk mixture to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Add melted butter and whisk until incorporated. Whisk in remaining milk mixture until smooth.
  2. Using paper towel, wipe out skillet, leaving thin film of oil on bottom and sides of pan. Increase heat to medium and let skillet heat for 1 minute. After 1 minute, test heat of skillet by placing 1 teaspoon batter in center and cook for 20 seconds. If mini test crêpe is golden brown on bottom, skillet is properly heated; if too light or too dark, adjust heat accordingly and retest.
  3. Whisk batter to recombine and pour scant 1/4 cup batter into far side of pan and tilt and shake gently until batter evenly covers bottom of pan. Cook crêpe without moving it until top surface is dry and crêpe starts to brown at edges, loosening crêpe from side of pan with rubber spatula, about 25 seconds. Gently slide spatula underneath edge of crêpe, grasp edge with fingertips, and flip crêpe. Cook until second side is lightly spotted, about 20 seconds. Transfer cooked crêpe to wire rack, inverting so spotted side is facing up. Return pan to heat and heat for 10 seconds before repeating with remaining batter, whisking batter often to recombine. As crêpes are done, stack on wire rack.
  4. Sprinkle upper half of 1 crêpe with 1 teaspoon sugar. Fold unsugared bottom half over sugared half, then fold into quarters. Transfer sugared crêpe to serving plate. Continue with remaining crêpes and sugar. Serve immediately, passing lemon wedges separately.
Gluten-Free Crepes with Lemon and Sugar
Photography by Daniel J. van Ackere. Styling by Marie Piraino.

Gluten-Free Crepes with Lemon and Sugar

Headshot of America's Test Kitchen
By America's Test Kitchen
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Time

1 hour

Yield

Serves 4

Ingredients

½ teaspoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups whole milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Lemon wedges

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

½ teaspoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups whole milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Lemon wedges

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

½ teaspoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups whole milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Lemon wedges

Test Kitchen Techniques

Why This Recipe Works

A traditional crêpe batter relies on 1 cup of flour, 1½ cups of milk, 3 eggs, and 2 tablespoons of butter (plus salt and sugar), so we swapped in our gluten-free flour blend and cooked up a batch. The results were close, but a bit rubbery. Reducing the number of eggs to two made the crêpes more tender and delicate. As with traditional crêpes, it was crucial to heat the pan properly—if it was too hot, the batter set up before it evenly coated the surface, yielding a crêpe marred by thick, spongy patches and holes; if too cool, the crêpe was pale (read: bland) and too flimsy to flip without tearing. To ensure steady, even cooking, we slowly heated the oiled skillet over low heat for at least 10 minutes. (Crêpes give off steam as they cook, but if at any point the skillet begins to smoke, remove it from the heat immediately and turn down the heat.) Adding just enough batter to coat the pan’s bottom, and using the tilt-and-shake method to distribute the batter, ensured browned, flavorful crêpes that were perfectly thin and easy to flip without tearing.

Before You Begin

To allow for practice, the recipe yields 10 crêpes; only eight are needed for the filling.

Instructions

  1. Place oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet and heat over low heat for at least 10 minutes. While skillet is heating, whisk flour blend, 11/2 teaspoons sugar, and salt together in medium bowl. In separate bowl, whisk together milk and eggs. Add half of milk mixture to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Add melted butter and whisk until incorporated. Whisk in remaining milk mixture until smooth.
  2. Using paper towel, wipe out skillet, leaving thin film of oil on bottom and sides of pan. Increase heat to medium and let skillet heat for 1 minute. After 1 minute, test heat of skillet by placing 1 teaspoon batter in center and cook for 20 seconds. If mini test crêpe is golden brown on bottom, skillet is properly heated; if too light or too dark, adjust heat accordingly and retest.
  3. Whisk batter to recombine and pour scant 1/4 cup batter into far side of pan and tilt and shake gently until batter evenly covers bottom of pan. Cook crêpe without moving it until top surface is dry and crêpe starts to brown at edges, loosening crêpe from side of pan with rubber spatula, about 25 seconds. Gently slide spatula underneath edge of crêpe, grasp edge with fingertips, and flip crêpe. Cook until second side is lightly spotted, about 20 seconds. Transfer cooked crêpe to wire rack, inverting so spotted side is facing up. Return pan to heat and heat for 10 seconds before repeating with remaining batter, whisking batter often to recombine. As crêpes are done, stack on wire rack.
  4. Sprinkle upper half of 1 crêpe with 1 teaspoon sugar. Fold unsugared bottom half over sugared half, then fold into quarters. Transfer sugared crêpe to serving plate. Continue with remaining crêpes and sugar. Serve immediately, passing lemon wedges separately.

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