Recipe: Mexican-inspired vanilla crepes suit breakfast or dessert

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After two years of no vacation travel, my husband and I decided on a last-minute trip to an adult-only, all-inclusive resort in Playacar, Mexico. Just the two of us and a whole week of blue skies, warm sunshine, and soft white sand.

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Being a food blogger and married to a spouse who’s a picky eater, my job was to find a resort that had decent food. After all, food can make or break a vacation.

All-inclusive vacations unfortunately tend to have a reputation of serving bland, soggy, lukewarm buffet style food. After much research, I found a resort that I felt would fit the bill. We chose the Royal Hideaway Playacar.

Most of the reviews I came across, praised the food. But, as you know, food is very subjective. After all, there’ve been many times where my husband and I have disagreed on how something tastes. Since we were craving some warmth, we settled on this resort. The biggest selling point about this place was the ability to dine à la carte for all three meals.

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While we expected the food to be above average, we certainly weren’t expecting to enjoy the food as much as we did. Not only were the choices in the six restaurants plentiful, but the ingredients were also fresh, the food was served hot and plated beautifully, and the service was excellent.

Except for a buffet breakfast one morning, all of our meals were eaten in Spices, the onsite Mexican restaurant. My husband loves his Huevos Rancheros, so his breakfasts always consisted of eggs, and tortilla served with a tomatillo or tomato sauce.

On our first morning I spied on the menu freshly made crepes stuffed with fresh fruit, served with a warm vanilla sauce. That became my go-to breakfast. On days where I craved something savoury, my husband and I would share those crepes for a breakfast dessert instead.

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Unknown to me, crepes served with vanilla sauce is an authentic sweet Mexican breakfast dish. After the French withdrew from Mexico in 1867, they left behind a part of their cuisine. That’s how crepas came to be. One of the most traditional Mexican desserts is crepas con cajeta — crepes topped with a thick, rich, gooey caramel sauce.

Crepas con cajeta unfortunately, wasn’t available for breakfast, but in its place was a dish that was equally delicious and perfect for that time of day.  Crepas en Salsa de Vainilla, were fork tender, with a hint of cinnamon and with just the right amount of chewiness. The vanilla sauce was rich, creamy, yet not overly sweet.  It was the perfect dessert breakfast. So of course, the first weekend we got back from vacation, I had to replicate this recipe.

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For those who’ve never tried making crepes at home, here are a few tips:

• Whisk batter well to get rid of lumps. Alternatively, use a blender to blend the ingredients.

• Refrigerate batter for at least an hour or overnight to allow the gluten to relax creating a light and airy crepe.

• Use a crepe pan or electric crepe maker to cook the crepes. A medium non-stick frying pan will also work.

• Cook crepes in a hot pan over medium heat.

• Add only enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan. Too much batter and the crepes will be too chewy.

• Crepes are done once the top looks dry, and the edges begin to release from the pan. Flip and cook the other side for 30 seconds. If using an electric crepe maker, there is no need to flip the crepe.

• Stack and cover crepes with a tea towel until ready to use. Crepes may also be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen until needed. To refrigerate, wrapped stacked crepes in cling wrap, place in an airtight container and use within two days. To freeze, layer crepes between sheets of parchment paper, then wrap tightly in cling wrap and place in an airtight container for up to three months. Thaw crepes before separating them.

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Crepas en Salsa de Vainilla

Ingredients:

Crepes

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

2 tbsp  melted butter, cooled to room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

Vanilla Sauce

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

1-2 tsp cornstarch, plus 1 tbsp milk

For filling / serving

Sliced bananas, mangos, strawberries

Diced peaches

Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries

Note: For a richer, sweeter, dessert sauce, substitute the 1/3 cup granulated sugar with 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk.

Crepes:

In a mixing bowl, whisk flour and cinnamon together.  Set aside.

In a large measuring cup with a spout, whisk the eggs, milk, cooled melted butter and vanilla extract together.

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Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, whisking in between until the batter is silky smooth and is the consistency of heavy cream.

Cover batter with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight. If batter separates, give it a quick whisk before using.

Heat crepe pan or non-stick pan over medium until hot.  Grease pan lightly with melted butter.

Add 2-3 tablespoons of batter to the pan. Working quickly, tilt the pan so that the batter covers the bottom of the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the top of the crepe looks dry and the edges begin to release from the side of the pan. Using your fingers and a silicone spatula, flip the crepe and cook the other side for no more than 30 seconds.

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Transfer the crepe to a large plate and cover with a tea towel.

Repeat until the batter is used.

To serve, place one crepe on a clean work surface. Add fresh fruit across the crepe then fold the crepe into thirds so that it looks like a burrito with open ends. Place folded crepe on a plate. Repeat for the balance of the crepes. Drizzle with warm vanilla sauce and garnish with additional fruit.

Vanilla Sauce:

Add heavy cream, sugar (or condensed milk, if using) and vanilla extract to a heavy bottom saucepan.

Heat on medium-high, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.

Turn heat down and simmer mixture for 10 to 15 minutes.

Add cinnamon, cornstarch, and milk to a small bowl. Whisk to combine.

Add cornstarch slurry to the cream mixture. Whisk to combine. Bring mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally. Simmer for another 5 minutes then remove from heat. Mixture will thicken as it cools. Serve vanilla sauce with crepes or drizzled over fresh fruit.  Refrigerate vanilla sauce and use within three days.

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Serve 3 to 4 stuffed crepes per person for breakfast. Serve two crepes per person for dessert.

Makes 16 crepes.

Karen Gordon is a food blogger from North Vancouver who shares her recipe creations online at karentology.com, on Instagram at @karen.t.ology, and on Pinterest @karentologyblog.

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