One of the most common sights in Italian cities are little vendors who sell crepes. What are the crepes inevitably stuffed with? Nutella! Warm and gooey, these street food treats are an Italian classic and much easier to make at home than you might think.
How to Make Crepes: The Homemade Technique
If you’ve ever seen a professional crepe-making operation, you’re probably familiar with their nifty griddles and batter-spreading gadgets. Those are cool, but you don’t need them!
Once you have a hot, buttered non-stick pan, all you have to do is add a big ladleful of batter and swirl it around quickly to cover the pan in a thin and even coating. Don’t worry if you have a few bare spots after swirling, just fill them in quickly with a little more batter. After making one or two crepes you’ll have a much better sense of how much batter is needed.
The crepe will solidify quite quickly, within a minute if not moments, and start to lightly brown. Simply grab an edge with a spatula and your fingers (please don’t burn yourself) and flip to cook the other side.
Usually the first crepe you make in a session always comes out wrong. This is normal. The first is always tossed, but by then the pan is primed and ready to make the real deal!
Stuffing the Crepe
Italian street food vendors will spread warm Nutella on the crepe as it cooks, but we recommend a simpler technique. As soon as the crepe is finished cooking, remove it to a plate and spread Nutella on top while it’s still hot. You’ll still have a warm, gooey crepe but without risking a mess on your stove.
You can use either store-bought Nutella or make your own, homemade Nutella.
Watch the Pasta Grammar video where we make Nutella crepes here:
NUTELLA CREPE RECIPE
Makes: About 5-7 crepes, depending on the size of your pan
Cook Time: 30 minutes
For this recipe, you will need:
1 1/2 tbsp (20g) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
2 eggs
1 cup (120g) flour
Nutella for filling
Powdered sugar for topping (optional)
Large mixing bowl
Fine mesh sieve or sifter
Hand mixer (optional)
Whisk
Non-stick pan
Paper towels
Spatula
Place the butter in a small bowl and microwave for about 15 seconds, or until it is just barely melted. Remove and let it cool while you combine the milk and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Whisk them together thoroughly.
Add the flour next, but do so by dusting it into the bowl through a fine mesh sifter. This will help break up clumps of flour. Whisk the flour into the milk/eggs. Finally, add the melted butter and mix that in as well. If you still end up with any clumps in the finished batter, a hand mixer will quickly take care of them.
Place a small pat of butter into a non-stick pan over medium heat. Spread the butter over the whole surface of the pan with a paper towel as it melts.
When the pan is hot, add a ladle of batter in and swirl it around to coat the bottom of the pan in a thin layer. Use the ladle to either gently spread the batter or add a little more if there are any “bald” spots that didn’t get covered.
When the bottom of the crepe is beginning to lightly brown in spots, use a spatula to flip it and cook the other side in the same way.
The first crepe usually doesn’t come out right, so don’t worry if you need to toss it and move on to the second. After the first crepe, you don’t need to add more butter into the pan for a while. Maybe after the 4th or 5th crepe you’ll want to grease it again.
When you have a good crepe, pull it out of the pan and spread Nutella over half of it. Fold the crepe in half, then spread more Nutella on half of the new semi-circle. Fold this in half again and dust with powdered sugar (optional). Eat it right away, while it’s hot.
Buon appetito!
Want to take these crepes to the next level? Try making them with homemade Nutella? Show off your new crepe-making skills by making a stunning Timballo Teramano!