Véronique’s crêpes with salted butter and raspberries

Today I’m loving myself. A lot, indeed! I’ve carefully combed my hair – despite the fact that I look like Marge Simpson as soon as I wake up -, I’ve put on a little make up, a touch of mascara and lip gloss, I’ve chose the clothes that I usually save for my special occasions. I didn’t want to talk about Valentine’s Day today, I admit it. Why? um, because I feared to resemble a sad martyr (anybody loves me, I won’t find anybody to share my life with, I will be found three weeks later half-eaten by Alsatians*…) or, on the opposite side, I was afraid to sound false speaking of love when love is not here.

Wait! Wait! a bell rang, or rather it was a gong! Of course love is here! I love myself, I really love this little Juls who decided to live her life following the LOVE! Which love? Whatever! Love for what she does, love for her family, love for her friends.. isn’t it just another shape of love? It’s so nice to be in love with love!

* Bridget Jones’ Diary quote. My father has just call me frightened by my gloomy imagination, eh eh!

Speaking about love, friendship and happiness, on Saturday I was enjoying a lovely evening out with my friends, celebrating Agata’s birthday. I was happy, rejoicing good food and smiling faces.

And there, we started talking about French crêpes. Until two days ago, crêpes were just crepes, nothing special, nothing extraordinary. Then Véronique began to tell us about her crêpes, her grandmother crêpes, made following old proportion of flour and eggs: for each egg you use, add a wooden spoon of plain flour. Then pour in the milk, very slowly. Leave the batter to rest for a few hours, so that it will thicken a bit. Just before making the crêpes, add some tablespoons of sugar to sweeten your crêpes.

You can add other flavours to the crêpes, such as orange flower water or vanilla essence. If you want, you can use other flours as well, for example buckwheat or chestnut flour. Another tip: fold the crêpe in the pan, so that she won’t get cold. Yes, you have read well, she. Véro’s crêpes are feminine entities! Thanks to Véronique’s words the crêpes came to life! Yesterday we met over a cup of tea with other friends and we made the crêpes together.

Crêpes ingredients (serve about 24):

• 6 eggs
• 6 wooden spoons plain flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 500 ml whole milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• butter to grease the pan

Spread ingredients:

• 250 g salted butter
• 200 g raspberries in syrup

Break the eggs in a bowl and add the flour, a heaping wooden spoon for each egg. Stir with the same wooden spoon until smooth: remove any flour lumps. Add a pinch of salt and then pour the milk in a stream, little by little, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches the texture of an English custard.

Let it rest 4 hours in a cool place, not in the fridge.

After 4 hours, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and stir until it is dissolved. This is the moment to flavour your batter, if you fancy an extra aroma, like orange water or vanilla. Heat a non stick pan over medium heat and grease the pan with some butter. Pour a ladleful of batter over the pan, swirl it to coat the bottom with the mixture. As soon as the edges of the crepes become crisp and golden brown, a minute or so, flip the crêpe with a thin silicone spatula and let it cook on the other side until it becomes golden brown.

Fold the crêpe in a half, and then again in a half: put it between two ceramic dishes. This will help keeping the crêpes warm until you’ve finished cooking the rest.

For the raspberry butter spread, leave the salted butter at room temperature until it softens. Whip it and add the raspberries with their syrup. Serve the crêpes with a tablespoon of raspberries spread and a dusting of icing sugar.

Extra tip. Add some chopped dark chocolate for a delicious treat!

Here are some photos of my greatest loves: cooking, friends and food!  I’ve begun this new week with a huge amount of energy, thanks to the friends I met on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, who made my world overflowing with love! I’m sure I won’t be found three weeks later half-eaten by Alsatians! 😉

(Thank you my friends for joining me in a fun Tuscan cooking class!)

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