German Pancakes (Crepes)

German Pancakes

When I think of comfort food...I think of German Pancakes! They are actually a crepe but our family makes them slightly thicker than the traditional crepe. We grew up eating these at our house. I never knew any other sort of pancake existed until I spent the night at a friend's house in grade school and their mom served pancakes. They were so THICK and had a baking powder taste. I did not like them at all and had a really hard time choking them down. (I got accustomed to the taste of traditional pancakes but I still prefer my family's version of pancakes better!)

This is the one food I missed the MOST when I had to adhere to a gluten free diet. Life without my favorite comfort food was difficult. I can do the gluten free diet pretty easily but I really missed German Pancakes! After many, many attempts experimenting to recreate them gluten free...I finally got them right! It is all about the texture and how they melt in your mouth! (I am also including the original recipe for those of you that would like to make them but don't require a gluten free version). This recipe was made for generations without a recipe. I learned from watching my mom make them over the years. I never used a recipe....until my kids were grown and moved out. They wanted a recipe! So I "eyeballed" the amounts and then measured & wrote it down for them. 

I love German Pancakes because you can be creative with them! You can top with traditional butter & syrup OR you can top with cooked apples, applesauce, peanut butter, nutella, fresh fruit, etc. You can even make an elegant dessert out of them if you put topping in them and then roll them up. Possibilities are endless! Instead of a sweet treat, these can be rolled up with eggs, bacon, etc for breakfast or tuna salad, egg salad, etc for an appetizer. Think outside the box! 

German Pancake (Crepe) Recipe:

• 2 cups flour (if you don't have a gluten allergy you can use regular flour. For this recipe today (in photo) I used 2 cups gluten free flour blend. See recipe below for the gluten free flour blend)
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups milk (I start off with this amount of milk but sometimes I will need to add a little more depending on how thick the batter is). In a pinch if I was low on milk, I did add a little water mixed with milk and they still turned out just fine!
• 1/8 cup of sugar (raw sugar can be substituted)

Beat with a whisk all the ingredients until smooth. If the batter is thick, add additional milk until it is the consistency of runny cake batter. If you want very thin crepes then your batter will need to be thin! I actually like these just slightly thicker than traditional crepes so I add just a little more batter to my skillet.

Batter

Stove top temperature should be on medium heat and the skillet should be already warmed up before you put your batter in. I spray my non-stick 10" skillet with cooking spray but you can use melted butter or oil like my mom does. I use a ladle full and spread into skillet. I gently tilt the skillet around so the batter thins out and reaches the edges of the skillet. I put a lid on my skillet so it cooks more even and faster but you don't have to do that.

When there are little bubble holes in the pancake and it has firmed up a little bit, time to flip it over. The second side will cook much faster so you barely flip it and then wait 30-50 seconds and remove it. Top it and enjoy it. (I even like these without a topping!)

 

GLUTEN FREE FLOUR BLEND:

• 2 1/2 cups Brown Rice Flour
• 3/4 cup potato starch
• 3/4 cup sweet rice flour
• 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour (made from sticky rice - doesn't contain gluten)
• 2 tsp. xanthan gum

Stir well. I store mine in a glass jar to use for baking sweet breads & cakes.



I hope you enjoy my favorite comfort food as much as my family does!

Enjoy
Tanja
Gluten Free Casually