French Crepes or Slovak Palacinka

Growing up these are what we called pancakes in my house. Pala- chinka are just crepes in Slovak. My father always made them for me as a child and I ate them with a sprinkle of sugar and he always ate them with Rose Hip  or Apricot jam. When I went to my best friend Kim's house her Mom made them with grated chocolate and sugar! When I was in Europe you could get them from street vendors filled with Nutella and bananas or strawberries. I love them with chocolate or strawberries and whipped cream the best!
You can fill them with your favourite ingredients for breakfast or dessert and I even eat them with savoury fillings like Spinach, Gruyere cheese and mushrooms or use them next time you make manicotti instead of the pasta tubes. They can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge or even frozen.

This recipe makes approx 8 palacinka.

You will need:

• 2 eggs
• pinch off salt
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 1 cup milk
• butter for cooking
• icing sugar/grated chocolate to top!

Fillings could be:

• jams
• jams and fresh fruit
• fresh fruit
• fresh fruit and whipped cream
• fresh fruit and yogurt
• sugar 
• sugar/cinnamon
• Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread
• Nutella and banana or strawberries
• grated chocolate 
• grated chocolate and sugar
• syrup
• spinach, Gruyere cheese, mushrooms 
• create manicotti with them -cheese or meat
• ham and cheese

and anything else you might like!!

Step 1: gather and measure all ingredients. In a medium bowl whisk all ingredients to form a thin batter.

Step 2: let rest in the fridge for at least half an hour or you can leave it for several hours.

Step 3: if you have a crepe pan great, if not just use a non stick pan. Brush a bit of butter to cover pan and then spoon in a ladle of batter. Immediately swirl the batter to let it form a large palacinka.

Step 4: I lift it with my fingers and flip once the first side has cooked. You want a bit of colour but not too much. Stack on a plate and you can cover and keep warm in the oven while the rest are cooking. I just make them all then I put them all In the oven to keep warm before assembly. 

When we were kids you just ate them as soon as one was ready. It was like playing cards, one for you, next for me!! Is it done yet???

potential toppings

fruit

chocolate (I had some ganache in the fridge so it was even better than Nutella!)

chocolate and bananas

blueberry jam with fresh fruit

spinach,mushrooms and Gruyere cheese

roll  them up and devour!