Rye and Pear Crepes

I have really tried to snap a good pic of these delicious crepes but something always goes wrong.  Believe me I have made them several times.  They are just that good.

Gotta run!  Off to bake Christmas cookies!

Rye Crepes With Sautéed Pears

Recipe adapted from PBS- Kitchen Vignettes.  I have made these both with sautéed pears or apples.  Both delicious. 

3/4 cup unbleached white flour
3/4 cup rye flour
1 3/4 cups milk
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Filling:
4 tablespoons butter for cooking
8 oz grated smoked Gouda
6 medium large pears, sliced thinly with skins on

Sift together the rye and unbleached white flours. In a large bowl, add the salt, the flours and whisk together well. Crack the eggs into the flour and add a bit of the milk. Begin to stir the mixture with a whisk or a wooden spoon. It will be hard at first, but stir well, gradually adding the milk in small increments and mixing between each addition. The batter will become smoother and smoother. If you add the milk too quickly, you will have lumps in your batter (which you can always strain out).

When the batter is completely smooth and mixed, cover it and let it stand for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 60 minutes. You can even make the batter a day in advance and let it rest in the fridge.  Add the melted butter into the batter when you are ready to make the crepes.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat.  Once your pan has heated up (about 3 minutes), place a teaspoon in the pan and swirl it around to cover the bottom of the skillet. It should sizzle a little.

Ladle in about 1/4 cup of batter and quickly swirl the batter around to cover the whole bottom of the pan. Once the top of the crepe has cooked (no longer liquid), check to see if the bottom is browning. Once it has browned a bit, you can carefully loosen the crepe using a spatula, and flip it over.

If the pears you're using are nice and juicy, you don't need to pre-cook them. However, if your pears are on the dry side, sauté them lightly in a small skillet on medium heat in 1 Tbsp. butter. Cook them just until their juices are released and they have softened somewhat (about 3 minutes).

To assemble, place a cooked crepe in the crepe skillet and scatter some smoked Gouda cheese down the center of the crepe. Add a generous amount of sliced pears, and fold each side of the crepe towards the center. Allow the crepe to cook a bit more until the Gouda in the middle has melted.

Cheese Blintz Casserole, Gluten Free

My Grandmother, who was 100% Polish made blintzes often.  She would roll the cottage cheese up into the crepes and place in a 9 x 13 and bake it.  When it came out of the oven it would get slathered with applesauce and enjoyed by everyone.

I have been wanting to make cheese blintzes but wanted to give gluten free crepes a go.  I modified and made the crepes. (If you want a great crepe recipe with regular all purpose flour, click here).  Fortunately, I had some luck on my side because they came out pretty good.  The first one was a wreck, but then it always is, even with regular flour.  After that, I began to get the hang of how they worked, what to do and what not to do.

Here are some rules for making Gluten Free Crepes

1.  Make sure your eggs are room temperature.

2.  Use a non stick skillet- no butter or spray- straight on.

3.  Let them be a little thick rather than spreading the out a little too thin. The gluten free does not have the "glue" that regular flour has to hold it together.  They are very delicate- the thinner they go, the more risk of breakage.  And honestly they are so light even thicker.

4. Let the crepe lose its gloss before you flip it.  This is also true with pancakes, if it is shiny- don't flip.

5. Have your flame a little below medium. You don't want your pan too hot. No sizzling.

After making all my crepes I made my filling.  The cottage cheese that I was using was way too runny- bummer- should have bought the good stuff.  I decided to go with a crepe and cheese layered blintz casserole.

There is nothing better than a casserole.  You get most of your prep dishes out of the way before you even sit down to dinner.  Then you just have your serving dish and plates.  Beautiful!

Torn crepe- this always happens with the first one.

Gluten Free Cheese Blintze Casserole

Crepes:

1 cup gluten free flour blend, your choice
1 1/2 tablespoons arrow root powder (or cornstarch)
4 eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups 2% milk

Filling:

48 ounces cottage cheese
5 eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons arrow root powder (or cornstarch)

Getting better with practice.

Make the crepes: Whisk the eggs, milk, butter, sugar and salt together until combined and a bit whipped- about a couple minutes.  In a smaller bowl whisk the flours together and then add enough of the liquid to make a paste.  Whisk the paste into the larger bowl, combining all of it.  (making the paste will reduce the lumps that might form).

Take out a 1/3 of a cup and carefully pour it onto the skillet, slowly.  Move the skillet around so that your crepe is somewhat circular.  This does take practice. Before you take out your next 1/3 of a cup to put on the skillet, make sure you stir as stuff will settle between crepes.

Repeat process until all the crepes are made.

Make the filling:  Combine the cottage cheese, eggs, sugar, vanilla and arrow root powder in a large bowl.


Make the casserole: Spray non stick cooking spray in a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Make a layer of crepes to cover the bottom and a little up the sides.


Spoon 1/2 of filling over crepes.  Cover with another layer of crepes.  Spoon the remainder of the filling over the crepes.  Layer once again with crepes over top.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 45 minutes.  Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes so it sets up.