National Grand Marnier Day | Jacques Pépin’s CRÊPES SUZETTE

For National Grand Marnier Day, I had plans, okay? I had plans for Grand Marnier French Toast or Grand Marnier Soufflé or a wonderful trifle. Then my husband realized that I was way overdue for an oil change and insisted that he take me to work and pick me up so that he can take my car in to get some work done. Very nice of him, and also, it made it easy to slack on this food holiday because I got home later than I expected. How about I share a previous recipe that you can use Grand Marnier in (but that I didn’t because I didn’t have any on hand)? In fact, you should use Grand Marnier in it. Jacques Pépin says so and in honor of National Bastille Day, you should listen to everything he says.

*****
Ahh, Crêpes Suzette. I’m so glad there is a day dedicated to this food. I don’t know who determined that today should be a food holiday to celebrate Crêpes Suzette, but I’m forever thankful to that individual.

Let me back up a little bit. I have never had crepes until last night when I made this recipe. There was always something else I thought I’d rather be eating for breakfast. There is a crepes restaurant here in Tampa that I have been meaning to try, but all of the non-crepes restaurants kind of took precedence. It’s not that I ever had anything against crepes, it’s just that I didn’t even bother with them. In my mind, they were just flimsy sheets of egg pancake and I would always rather have a heaping plate of french toast or a steak and egg burrito or what have you.

Well, what a mistake that was, my friends. How could I have missed out on crepes for this long? It’s practically sinful. Welcome to National Crêpes Suzette Day!

I had psyched myself out and believed that crepes would be very difficult to make. They just seem too delicate and I am not very delicate around the kitchen. The place is basically trashed by the time my meal is done (that has a lot to do with the fact that my kitchen is minuscule, but I digress) so naturally, I wasn’t sure how this would go.

My very brief internet search for a promising Crêpes Suzette recipe led me to one contributed by Jacques Pépin for Food & Wine. There was a video, which is always a favorite for me when learning a new dish, and a full recipe, which was slightly different than the instructions in the video. My suggestion? Check out the video (the video instructions and those below are the same). It’s much easier to follow along with when you can see it all happening. Plus, Jacques’s french accent is simply adorable!

Shame on me for keeping crepes from myself for so long. What the heck was I thinking? Caramelizing these beauties in sugar and orange juice (I refrained from the Grand Marnier because I didn’t have any in the house) created a wonderful crust that I loved biting into.

This was my first time making crepes and I was surprised by how easy it was to do. Give it a try!

Print Recipe

Jacques Pépin's CRÊPES SUZETTE

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Crepes

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter, plus more butter for the skillet

Sauce

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• Zest from 1 small orange
• Juice from 1 orange
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Crepes

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, flour, milk, salt and sugar until smooth; the batter will be thick. Whisk in the water, oil and melted butter.
2. Heat a nonstick skillet and rub with a little butter. Add 2 tablespoons of the batter and tilt the skillet to distribute the batter evenly, pouring any excess batter back into the bowl.
3. Cook over moderately high heat until the edges of the crêpe curl up and start to brown, 45 seconds. Flip the crêpe and cook for 10 seconds longer, until a few brown spots appear on the bottom. Tap the crêpe out onto a plate . Repeat with the remaining batter to make 12 crêpes, buttering the skillet a few times as necessary.

Sauce

1. In the same skillet, add all of the ingredients for the sauce. Stir to combine.
2. Take each crepe, dip bottom half of one side in the sauce, followed by the same bottom half of the opposite side. Fold each once to form a half moon and then again to form a triangle.
3. Arrange a single layer (4 crepes at a time) in the skillet and let cook, turning over once halfway through, until caramelized and almost all the sauce is absorbed by the crepes.

Adapted from Food & Wine.