One of my favorite things to do as a child was go to the International House of Pancakes {affectionately known to many as IHOP} for breakfast on Saturdays with my family. I think my orders always varied, but typically involved chocolate chip pancakes or some intensely sugary and indulgent mix of chocolate, whipped cream, strawberries and syrup. I loved that on each table, they placed about 4 different types of syrup, including blueberry. I loved experimenting with those syrups, fancying myself a mixologist of sorts, creating all kinds of {I assume} horribly sugary pancake concoctions.
My mom would always order the “German” pancakes, which were light and fluffy crepes with lemon and sugar {which, sadly, are not on their menu anymore}. As I got older, and my tastes got {slightly} more refined, these crepes started becoming by go-to. Infinitely lighter in texture than pancakes, they never made me feel too heavy. When I finally tasted truly “international” versions of crepes in France and Italy, I was hooked. Last Sunday, on a particularly lazy day that consisted of watching crap TV and movies, I whipped up a batch of crepes, simply throwing a few ingredients I had on hand into a blender. I topped these crepes with carmelized figs – I heated halved figs in a pan with butter, honey and thyme sprigs until their sugars carmelized slightly, and turned a lovely golden brown. Topped with mascarpone whipped cream, these crepes were the perfect lazy Sunday morning breakfast.
Recipes
Crepes
From Julia Child
- 1 cup flour
- 2/3 cup cold milk
- 2/3 cup cold water
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for brushing on pan
Mix all ingredients until smooth in a blender or with a whisk. Refrigerate.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush with melted butter.
Pour in 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the center of the pan and then tilt the pan in all directions to cover the bottom evenly. Cook about 1 minute, or until browned on the bottom. Turn and cook briefly on the other side.
Cool on a rack or plate as you finish making the rest. Serve as desired.
Note: I think these crepes would be even better with the addition of brown butter in place of the butter.
Carmelized Figs
- 6-8 fresh figs, halved
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme, if desired
Spread about 1/2 teaspoon honey over each fig half, or enough to coat. Heat medium skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add butter and let it sizzle. Add thyme springs, and stir to evenly mix. Place figs, cut side down, in the butter, and leave, untouched, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until carmelized. Remove figs from skillet and keep warm.
Mascarpone Cream
- 1/2 c. whipping cream
- 1/3 c. mascarpone cream
- 1/4 c. powdered sugar
Whip whipping cream in a bowl using a wire whisk just until soft peaks form. Add mascarpone and sugar, and continue to whip until combined and desired texture is achieved.
A beautiful dish. I love how versatile crepes can be. We enjoy them at our house.
Thank you so much! I would love to hear what sort of toppings you add to your crepes! xoxo
We usually stuff them, either sweet or savory. I really should do some up and do a post. 😊
Stuffed crepes sound excellent! Would love to see you post about them – I welcome more crepe ideas! xo
Thanks, it’s on my list! 🙂
Cool! 🙂
This is gorgeous. What a decadent breakfast, yet not too difficult to make. Figs are so in season right now so it’s an excellent use of what’s around as well! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for your kind words, and thank you for stopping by! Crepes really are quite simple to make – I used a non-stick pan and it couldn’t be simpler!
Blueberry Syrup, Lemon and sugar Pancakes and this recipes makes my mouth water 🙂
Lovely, Lindsay! And yes, you can use brown butter in crêpe batter, a friend on mine just tried it and told me it was delicious. I have never tasted it yet, but I am quite convinced it can only be delicious!
Me too! I was so pissed at myself for realizing after the fact that I could have easily substituted brown butter for the melted butter in the crepe batter – too easy! And I love the color and flavor brown butter imparts to EVERYTHING, so I am sure it would have made these crepes even better! 🙂 Next time…Hope you are doing well! xo
These are beautiful crepes and photographs. You could also use a flambé torch and sugar to caramelize the figs like crème brulée! Thanks for sharing.
Oooh, that’s a great idea! Will have to try that next time, and put my brulee torch to more use! Thank you for stopping by and for the tip! 🙂
These sound absolutely incredible. I am always looking for fig recipes, since I have a fig tree that is pretty much exploding right now.
Thanks so much Jenn! And for stopping by! I read your post about your fig tree and your freak bee incident – hilarious!!! I wish I had a fig tree in my backyard…Was thinking it would be fun to do a fig recipe roundup, if I ever get my act together. 🙂 xoxo
We had figs with thyme and creamy cheese this week too! Great minds, I guess… 🙂
Haha love it! Great minds indeed! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! xo
Those figs are stunning – fantastic ingredients.
Thank you so much for your kind words, and for stopping by! I think figs were my favorite fruit/vegetable to shoot – they are just so gorgeous, and these were also the perfect size and ripeness…
Thats a wonderful recipe and the pictures are so beautiful!
Thank you so much! And thank you for stopping by! xoxo
Oh, Lindsay, these are just beautiful! Between the caramelized figs and the mascarpone cream and the crepes themselves, I don’t know what I like better. Delicious and gorgeous, to boot. Speaking of favorite things to do, there is this crepe place I used to go to when I was still in Seattle at the Pike Place Market that had the best fresh peach crepes. You’d have thought I worked for them by how I spoke about them to the other customers as I waited for mine to be prepared — ah, delight is a crepe =) Thanks for sharing, lovely, hope all is wonderful up there in SF =) xo!
Haha I love it Christina! I would TOTALLY do the same thing! Peach crepes – mmmm – now I am going to be dreaming about those for awhile…Please post about them! Pretty please!? 🙂 Hope you are settling in well in San Diego love! xoxo
Caramelized figs and mascarpone are one of my favorite flavor combinations. I love that you put them with crêpes. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. (and delicious from the final photo 🙂 )
Thank you so much! A truly amazing flavor combination – I agree! Had to make use of the last figs of the season…xoxo
those are some beautifully cooked figs. I wish we got them here – would love to try this recipe!
Thank you! You could probably try it with other stone fruits – plums or peaches might be delicious! Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂
Growing up as a Christian girl, there was always an ongoing joke about IHOP… the pancake house doesn’t exist here in Australia, but ‘International House of Prayer’ does! It goes by the same acronym. So as soon as we found out there was a pancake version, the Church suddenly became the ‘Pancake House’. Ah, children! 🙂 Anyway, these gorgeous crepes look so delicate, both in flavour and texture. I definitely agree that crepes are a perfect way to get a delicious pancake fix without the heavy feeling afterwards. I’ve come to adore goats cheese and/or mascarpone with figs and honey. Such a beautiful combination. I’ll have to make this for Aaron and I one weekend! I do hope you’re well beautiful! xxox
Haha – funny to hear about what IHOP means to you! 🙂 Silly kids! I don’t think I truly appreciated how easy crepes were to make at home with the right sized non-stick pan – I will be whipping these up every weekend! 🙂 Want to try something savory next…Hope you’re doing well love! xoxo
We have the same childhood. When I was a kid, my mom brought me to a pancake house where I can try and make my own pancakes. I still remember the recipes and nowadays I make it for breakfast with my family. There is no day without a pancake at my home.
Love it! Just added one more pancake recipe to my arsenal. These were insanely good! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing a food memory – love it! xoxo