My Oma was Austrian and one of the biggest inspirations in my life. Her house was full of love and her kitchen was absolutely magical! As a kid, I remember spending so much time in that kitchen. She had small copper pans hanging on the wall and tiny utensils for us to play with. A basket full of French breads, made out of paper mache, sat in the corner and was my favorite thing to carry around. Being from a small town in North Carolina, none of my friends had an Oma and at a very young age I knew how special that was.
Her meals were a beautiful experience, even the simple ones. She would make us German Crepes, called Pfannkuchen (we always called them Polly-Jenkins because we had no clue how to really pronounce it!) The batter was simple: eggs, flour, milk & vanilla. After cooking a perfectly round crepe, she would fill each one with jam, roll it up, and sprinkle the top with sugar. Oma always had a way of making even the simplest things taste incredible. I am pretty sure that love was her secret ingredient... Even if she gave us the recipe, it just never tasted quite as good.
So, I was feeling a little nostalgic the other morning and decided to try to make a version of Oma's crepes. I found a paleo crepe recipe on gi365.com and tweaked it a bit. They definitely made me feel extra warm and fuzzy thinking about my childhood and how lucky I was to have such an amazing soul for my Oma!
INGREDIENTS
Crepes:
2 Eggs
1/4- 1/3 c. Almond Milk
2 TBsp. Almond Flour
2 TBsp. Tapioca or Arrowroot Starch
A pinch of sea salt
Coconut Oil Spray, for the griddle
Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
Strawberry Sauce:
12 oz. Fresh Strawberries (Frozen work well too)
1 tsp. water
1 TBsp. Coconut Sugar or Honey
1 1/2 tsp. Tapioca or Arrowroot Starch
Whipped Coconut Cream:
1 can Coconut Milk, *refrigerated overnight
1 TBsp. Coconut Sugar or Honey
1 tsp. Vanilla
For the Strawberry Sauce, in a small saucepan, mix together the water and tapioca starch, until dissolved and smooth. Add the strawberries and coconut sugar or honey and cook over med-high heat, stirring continuously. Stir until the mixture begins to boil & thicken, this will take about 5minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
For the Whipped Coconut Cream, place the bowl of a stand up mixer in the freezer for 5 minutes. Remove it and place only the top layer of cream from the can of coconut milk into the bowl. Add the coconut sugar or honey and vanilla. Using a whisk attachment, turn the mixer on high and whip the cream until it is fluffy. This will take about 8 minutes.
For the Crepes, place all of the ingredients, except hazelnut butter, in a large bowl and mix until combined (I used a stand up mixer for this step). You want the batter to be a thinner consistency, so slowly add more almond milk if needed. Heat a large griddle or non-stick pan over med-high heat and spray lightly with coconut oil spray. *I do not have any non-stick pans & found that the griddle worked great because it gave me lots of room to work with & spread the crepes very thin.* Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle and spread around (the back of the measuring cup or a spoon work nicely), until it is thin & almost see through. Cook about 2 minutes and flip gently. Cook another 2 minutes & transfer to a plate.
Fill each crepe with 1 tsp. of Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter and fold over. Top with whipped coconut cream & strawberry sauce.
Enjoy!