I remember my high school French teacher telling me this little trick about how to spell dessert, as in a sweet treat, versus desert, as in a dry hot expanse. Dessert has an extra ‘s’ in it, therefore you want more of it!
So, would you like to know how to make this dessert? It’s a Chocolate Crepe, with ice-cream, fruit and chocolate sauce. It’s not too sweet and easy to make.
This is a good one to make during the winter months when frozen fruit is more available than fresh. Just thaw out your favourite fruit and put some of it, along with some vanilla ice-cream (sorry, mine melted quickly for these pictures), into a warm crepe, and fold the ends up and over. Then drizzle on the warm chocolate sauce. Of course, fresh fruit when it is in season is delicious in this too.
I made it up today in advance of a friend coming over for dinner tomorrow, so my work in the dessert department is done. All I’ll have to do tomorrow is assemble.
Multi-Purpose Chocolate Sauce : Makes about 1 cup, more than you’ll need for this dessert. Left overs can be kept in the refrigerator for quite a long time. Just heat some up when you need chocolate sauce.
– 100g dark chocolate. I used Swiss 72% cacao here but have also used 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
– 1 tablespoon butter
– 1/4 cup cream (whipping cream or table cream)
– 1 teaspoon sugar or so, depending on how sweet you’d like it – Optional
– 1 tablespoon rum (optional but good)
– About 1/3 cup of water
Over low heat, melt chocolate and butter. Add cream and stir. Note: it might start to look really weird and grainy at this point. You might think it is ruined because no amount of stirring will get it to meld together into a nice sauce. But don’t worry, when you add the water, a bit at a time, it will smooth right out before your eyes. Add enough water to make it nice and smooth and saucy. Add sugar (if using) and rum. Stir until incorporated and you’re done.
Chocolate Crepes.
Makes 6 dessert size crepes, plus one for the pan (see note below). Recipe may be halved.
– 2 cups milk
– 2 eggs
– 1 1/2 cup flour
– 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (the unsweetened type used for baking)
– 1 teaspoon sugar
– a pinch of salt.
Mix dry ingredients together. Whisk milk and eggs together in a large bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet. The mixture might be a little lumpy .. that’s ok.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add enough oil (I use peanut oil) to coat the bottom (around 1/4 teaspoon). The trick is to get your pan pretty hot. A sprinkle of water into it should sizzle.
Add a soup-ladle full of batter and rotate your pan so it covers the bottom or about 8 inches across. Cover and cook for 1 minute. Flip and cook the other side for 1/2 minute.
Transfer to a plate, where crepes can be stacked until ready to serve.
Give the batter a quick stir and make another one, adding more oil first, if required.
Note: No matter how good of a crepe-maker you are, the first one you make is usually ‘for the pan’. I once heard a chef on tv say that, and it always seems to be true. I can’t say why. Just scrape it out of the pan and toss it. Now the pan will be magically ready to make perfect crepes for you. Consider using less batter for the first one, for this reason.
Assemble your desserts by using one crepe, some ice-cream (I used French Vanilla), some fruit of your choice (I used some peaches I prepared for the freezer last summer when they were in season, seen here). Wrap the crepe around the filling and spoon some warm chocolate sauce over top.
Leftover crepes can be kept in the fridge for a few days, or they can be frozen with a layer of wax paper between each one so you can separate them later.
I hope you try making these Dessert Crepes and/or Chocolate Sauce
xo loulou
