Crepes!

Today, I made crepes.  I have been experimenting with different kinds of crepes and found this recipe for Gluten Free Crepes to be very very good.  It's made with rice flour, guar gum, milk, eggs, and butter.  The guar gum helps the rice flour stick together since it does not contain gluten but if you can't find it, you can leave it out.

For my crepes, the filling consisted of a lemony cream cheese, with added strawberries and bananas, and topped off with whipped cream.  I found this to be a good combination even though I tend to eat the strawberries with the cream by themselves before eating the filled crepes.  Perfect Sunday morning breakfast.  :)

Another way you can make these is with just the cream cheese filling and a raspberry coulis topping (I'll add the raspberry coulis recipe at the end of the post).

Without further ado, here are the recipes:

Gluten Free Crepes

1/3 cup rice flour
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk (I use 2% lowfat milk)
1 TBSP unsalted melted butter
1/4 tsp guar gum

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
2. Preheat a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Place enough batter in the pan to just cover the bottom.  You may need to swirl it around a bit. Dump out the excess batter back into the blender and let cook.
3. The crepes will start to bubble and lift away at the edges.  Once this happens, they should be slightly browned on the bottom and ready to turn.  
4. Turn and let brown slightly on the other side and slip into a warmed plate.  
5. Continue in this way until all the batter is used up.  You should have between 6 to 8 crepes.

Cream Cheese Filling

1 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup softened cream cheese

3 - 6 TBSP powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

zest of 1/2 lemon, grated finely

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place all ingredients in a hand  held blender and blend until creamy.  
2. Once smooth, place in a small bowl.

Whipped Cream Topping

1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBSP powdered sugar

With a hand-held powered whisk, blend all ingredients until smooth peaks form.  Once whipped, place in a small bowl.

Additional recipe for the raspberry coulis (not shown) is below:

Raspberry Coulis

450 g packet of frozen raspberries, thawed
7-8 TBSP white sugar
1/4 cup water
dash of salt
1 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Add all ingredients to a heavy bottomed sauce pan and simmer over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.  Be careful not to boil the mix.  
2. Remove from heat and allow to cool.  
3. Once cooled, blend with a hand blended until smooth.  
4. Transfer to a mesh strainer over a larger bowl and push the residue with a spatula until there is nothing left in the strainer except the raspberry seeds.  
5. Discard the seeds and transfer the puree to the refrigerator and leave at least 2 hours before serving.  

This recipe makes plenty of sauce and you only need a little to drizzle over the top of your crepes.  It is very very tasty.

Which ever way you decide to make the crepes, they are very good. You may have enough to store for later.  If you do, store unassembled crepes with wax paper in-between each one and placed in a large zip lock bag.  They'll keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days at most.

If you decide to make these, please let me know which way you served them (with filling, bananas, strawberries, and whipped cream or just filling and raspberry coulis) and if you liked them as much as traditional crepes.  And of course...  Enjoy!

Mango Season!

It's mango season in New South Wales.  The mangoes are beautiful, delicious, plentiful, and cheap this time of year. With that much delicious fresh fruit around, I bought a package of twelve.  I had eaten a few of them and still had plenty left to go, so I looked around for something to do besides just having fresh mango for breakfast.  Not that that is a bad thing mind you but a little variety never hurt.  :)

I found a recipe for Mango Syllabub that I thought I would like to try. Since then, I have made it three times and I believe I have it worked out to a fantastic, easy, dessert recipe that even a child would love.

First, you start with the sugar syrup. Place 1/2 cup of water, two whole star anise, and 1/3 cup of white sugar in a heavy bottomed pan on the stove top. Turn the heat to low and stir until the sugar dissolves. Once dissolved however, STOP stirring and turn the heat up to medium high. Set a timer for five minutes and let it go to come to a soft boil. When the timer goes off, check the consistency. It should be like thin syrup. If it is, take the star anise out and let it cool. Once cooled, place in an airtight container and put it in the refrigerator until cold. You can make this portion a full day ahead of time if necessary.

Next, take six med mangoes and cut them up, removing peel and seed. Place most of the mango, reserving out the flesh of one, in a food processor with the juice from 1/2 of a lemon and pulse until smooth. (If you have never cut a mango or would like a refresher, take a look at this video.)

Once the mango is done, pour 300 ml of whipping cream in a cold (tall) bowl and whip until soft peaks form.  Fold the cold syrup (you made earlier) throughout.

Place a couple of tablespoons of the mixed cream into the bottom of six ramekins, spoon mango puree over that, place the mango pieces in next and top with remaining whipped cream. If you have extra mango pieces, you could top the final product.

Refrigerate for at least an hour and then enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup water

2 star anise

300 ml whipping cream

6 fresh medium to large mangos

juice of 1/2 lemon