Crepes with Cherry Compote and Cream Cheese Filling
Cherries!!! The season is beginning and fruit and vegetable shops are starting to fill up with them - red, shiny and irresistible. For those days when you - like me - cannot resist and are looking for something different to do with them than eat them raw (which pretty awesome in itself), try this recipe for a feel-good brunch. Or dessert. Or whatever :)
This photo was taken a while back at a vegetable market in Timisoara, Romania. Look at me being happy about all those heaping piles of cherries... 🍒
Ingredients (serves 4):
cherry compote
500g sweet ripe cherries
4 tbsp lemon juice
100ml orange juice
2 tbsp red wine
1 vanilla bean
70g sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
crepe batter
125g flour
2 eggs
300ml milk
20g melted butter
1 tsp rum (optional)
pinch of salt
cream cheese filling
200g cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
30g (1/4 cup) powdered sugar
Instructions:
1. Start with the compôte. Stone (de-seed) the cherries and remove the stems. If you like your clothes, wear an apron for this one because they're going to splatter.
2. Place the cherries in a stainless steel sauce pan and add the wine, lemon juice, orange juice, sugar and cinnamon.
3. Halve the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds, then add both the seeds and the bean to the pan. Put on heat and boil for 3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, and separate the solids from the juice using a sieve. Put the liquid and vanilla bean back in the pan, bring to a boil and reduce to roughly 1/5 of the volume, by which time it will have attained a lovely syrupy texture. Pour the syrup back over the cherries and set aside.
5. To make the crêpes, combine flour, eggs, salt, rum and butter in a bowl and whisk. While whisking, add the milk little by little.
6. Mix together the ingredients for the cream cheese filling.
7. In a large non-stick frying pan, melt a tiny bit of butter. Add half a soup ladle of batter to the pan, swooshing it around. The more surface area you manage to cover, the thinner the crêpes. Swoosh surely and decisively. Timidity (my first approach) leads to oddly formed crêpes with little tails around the edges instead of the round shape you're aiming for. Repeat until you finish the batter.
8. To serve, cover each crepe with cream cheese, then fold in four and top with cherry compote.
This photo was taken a while back at a vegetable market in Timisoara, Romania. Look at me being happy about all those heaping piles of cherries... 🍒
Ingredients (serves 4):
cherry compote
500g sweet ripe cherries
4 tbsp lemon juice
100ml orange juice
2 tbsp red wine
1 vanilla bean
70g sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
crepe batter
125g flour
2 eggs
300ml milk
20g melted butter
1 tsp rum (optional)
pinch of salt
cream cheese filling
200g cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
30g (1/4 cup) powdered sugar
Instructions:
1. Start with the compôte. Stone (de-seed) the cherries and remove the stems. If you like your clothes, wear an apron for this one because they're going to splatter.
2. Place the cherries in a stainless steel sauce pan and add the wine, lemon juice, orange juice, sugar and cinnamon.
3. Halve the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds, then add both the seeds and the bean to the pan. Put on heat and boil for 3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, and separate the solids from the juice using a sieve. Put the liquid and vanilla bean back in the pan, bring to a boil and reduce to roughly 1/5 of the volume, by which time it will have attained a lovely syrupy texture. Pour the syrup back over the cherries and set aside.
5. To make the crêpes, combine flour, eggs, salt, rum and butter in a bowl and whisk. While whisking, add the milk little by little.
6. Mix together the ingredients for the cream cheese filling.
7. In a large non-stick frying pan, melt a tiny bit of butter. Add half a soup ladle of batter to the pan, swooshing it around. The more surface area you manage to cover, the thinner the crêpes. Swoosh surely and decisively. Timidity (my first approach) leads to oddly formed crêpes with little tails around the edges instead of the round shape you're aiming for. Repeat until you finish the batter.
8. To serve, cover each crepe with cream cheese, then fold in four and top with cherry compote.
