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Three rolled- up pancakes sprinkled with sugar on a blue plate,
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Lemon & Sugar Crepes

Thin, lacey delicate French pancakes made using pantry staples. We generously sprinkle with lemon juice and sugar, roll up and devour!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Resting time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Servings: 2 people (8 pancakes)
Author: Hangry Miss

Equipment

  • Crepe pan or other small frying pan, no more than 24cm/9 ½ inch diameter
  • Offset spatula for flipping

Ingredients

  • 110 g plain flour
  • Pinch salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 200 ml whole milk
  • 30 g unsalted butter
  • lemon
  • granulated sugar

Instructions

  • Flour & Salt - in a large shallow bowl, weigh in the flour and whisk in the salt using a small hand whisk or fork. Using the back of a spoon, make a well in the centre. Set the bowl on top of a tea towel on the work bench to keep it steady.
    110 g plain flour
    Pinch salt
  • Liquid - break the eggs into a measuring jug. Add the milk and enough water to make up the volume to 400ml. Whisk together.
    2 eggs
    200 ml whole milk
  • Batter - pour a little of the liquid into the flour well. Use a mini whisk or fork to whisk in the well, allowing some of the flour around the edge to fall in and get incorporated. Continue to add liquid and increase the size of your circles to combine more and more flour. Switch over to a larger hand whisk while you add in the rest of the liquid in bigger quantities. A flexible spatula is useful to make sure there’s no thicker batter stuck to the bottom of the bowl. The batter should be thin and smooth. Transfer the batter to a jug for easy pouring; you can pass through a sieve if you want to make sure it is entirely smooth.
  • Rest - leave to rest for 30 minutes (unrefrigerated).
  • Butter - melt the butter (very briefly in the microwave) and allow to cool slightly.
    30 g unsalted butter
  • Enrich Batter - pour the melted (and cooled) butter into the batter and stir though. Pour out 60ml (4 Tablespoons) of batter for your first pancake into an espresso coffee cup or equivalent.
  • Preheat Pan - over medium heat for a few minutes. When a splash of water flicked into the pan sizzles on contact, you’re ready to start cooking the pancakes
  • Cook Crepe - lift the crepe pan up off the heat. With the other hand, add the batter portion in one spot at the edge. Quickly, quickly swirl and tilt the pan to spread the batter all over the bottom. Fill up any gaps with a few drips of batter from a teaspoon. Set the pan down over the heat again. Cook for about a minute, until the crepe is lifting away from the edges of the pan slightly and the top looks a bit ‘sweaty’. Lift an edge up and look underneath. We want a browned lacey pattern. Flip and cook for about 20 seconds on the other side before shimmying out onto a plate (note).
  • Top - sprinkle over some lemon juice and granulated sugar before rolling up (about a teaspoon of each). Roll up the crepe and sprinkle a little more sugar over top.
    lemon
    granulated sugar

Notes

If you’re making for little ones, you probably need to set your crepe pan off the heat between pancakes. It's hard for them to sprinkle sugar and drizzle lemon juice and not just dump it in one spot! If you leave the pan on the heat while you do this for them, the pan will overheat and smoke. You will need to allow a little more time getting the pan back up to temperature though.

 

Variations

I’ve suggested the classic lemon and sugar combo here, but you can add anything you like! Warmed chocolate spread or honey (so that they can spread more easily). You could go savoury, maybe ham and melted cheese?
 

Make Ahead

You can make the batter up to two days in advance. Keep it refrigerated. Hold off adding the melted butter until ready to cook (it will solidify in the fridge). Allow the batter to come to room temperature before adding the cooled melted butter. You'll get lumps of butter otherwise settling on the top of the batter. This is not the end of the world - you'll need to stir the batter well between each crepe to mix it through.
 

Want to keep the crepes warm while you finish the batch?

- you can put the oven on a low setting while you make your pancakes. Stack the pancakes onto a plate as you make them. When you have made all the pancakes, cover loosely in foil and reheat in the oven for 20 minutes or so.
- you can place a plate over a saucepan with some simmering water and stack the pancakes there, covered in foil.
 

Wanting to make the crepes further in advance?

First allow them to cool completely stacked on a plate. Layer between layers of parchment, and then wrap well in foil. You can reheat by placing in a warm oven, left wrapped as they are until warmed through.