Cinnamon Crepes with Raspberries and Chantilly Cream

Mimi from Manger (a marvelous blog, btw, with fabulous photography by her husband) says she got this recipe from her Icelandic MIL, Jóhanna, who is famous for her cinnamon pancakes. Well, Mimi and her family call them pancakes, but they are without a doubt what we call crepes...the batter and the finished texture.  
I love the way she served them in a folded triangle rather than rolled up. They're easy enough to make but difficult to get an even golden brown on each and every one of them. Don't you think this would be fabulous in the fall with some caramelized apples? My mouth waters just thinking of it. 
Mimi  made them with pears, but said she was thinking strawberries, which is why I decided to post this now. Our strawberries and raspberries are lovely at the moment. (But I'm keeping this in mind for fall.)

Cinnamon Crepes with Raspberries and Chantilly Cream
From Mimi at her Manger blog

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

 2 ½ cups full-cream milk

1 and 1/2 cups plain flour

¼ tsp fine salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Fruit of your choice

Chantilly Cream (recipe follows)

Method:

In a crepe pan, melt the butter, take off the heat and leave to cool. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine sugar and eggs. Whisk briskly for a minute, then gradually add the milk and flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract, until you get a smooth batter. Add the cinnamon, mix well, then finally add the all butter that was in the pancake pan.

Heat the pancake pan on a medium to high heat. When the pan is very hot, spoon ¾ of a ladle of batter and pour on pan, swirling the pan to evenly cover the surface. Cook for a minute or so, until the edges start browning. Lift the edges slightly with a palette knife and turn the pancake to cook on the other side. For 30 seconds. The pancakes are best golden brown. I placed wax paper between the crepes. Cover with a tea towel to keep the soft until cool and ready to serve.
Prepare whatever fruit you are using. Make the chantilly cream.

Place 1 tablespoon of whipped cream in the center of the pancake, add 2 teaspoons of diced fruit. Fold in half and fold again to form a triangle. Serve immediately.

Chantilly Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sugar

Method:

Put cream, vanilla, and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until soft peaks begin to form. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

Surgery update: Much easier than I expected, I even walked out of the outpatient clinic on my own!  Walking quite normally now and will begin rehab soon to get complete extension back. All in all, a success.

Ice Cream Bombe

Back in Michigan, I had a good friend, Nina Collins. She was a hostess extraordinaire and entertained small groups nearly every weekend. Everyone loved going as not only was the food wonderful, but Nina always had a mixed bag of guests, which meant we nearly always met someone new. 
One particular dinner party remains in my memory...held during the Christmas season. Nina served an ice cream bombe for dessert. She used flavors of the season: peppermint stick ice cream, a homemade raspberry ice cream and the inside layer was a mixture of whipped cream, candied fruit, toasted almonds, rum and confectioners sugar. It tasted divine and looked amazing.....none of us had ever seen anything like it.
Well, bombes are made more frequently now, with any number of ice cream mixtures (Bombes always remind me of the movie Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?) and while I haven't made one in a while, I thought I'd give it a try with peach (or mango) sorbet, either will do, Häagen-Dazs makes both, raspberry sorbet and pistachio ice cream. I really like the colors and flavor combo...I think you will too. Your kids may prefer strawberry ice cream, chocolate and vanilla..anything will work.

Nina's Ice Cream Bombe

Ingredients:
2 pints peach or mango sorbet
2 pints raspberry sorbet
1 pint pistachio ice cream

Method:
Try to find three bowls of decreasing size. I had two glass mixing bowls, one was 8 inches in diameter and the other was 6 1/2 inches. I didn't have the next size down, but found a smaller bowl that was about 4 inches, so used that.
Soften the peach sorbet and place in the largest bowl, spreading it evenly. Cover the entire bottom of the 6 1/2 inch bowl with Saran wrap and press into the larger bowl until the sorbet reaches up to the top. Put both bowls into the freezer until firm. In the meantime, soften the raspberry sorbet. Remove the 2nd bowl and spoon in the softened raspberry sorbet. (You will have some of this sorbet left over) Cover the bottom of the smallest bowl and again press into the sorbet until it reaches up to the top all around. Place in the freezer again until firm.
Soften the pistachio ice cream. Remove the smallest bowl and fill the opening with pistachio ice cream. Cover and freeze.
When I removed the bombe the next day, I took a large, sharp knife and evened the top so all the layers were level. Dip the bombe into warm water and invert on a serving plate. It took several dips and finally I used a long knife to urge the bombe out. Place in the freezer until ready to serve. I found the easiest way to cut the slices was to take it out of the freezer and run very hot water over a large knife. It will cut through like butter.

                                    

A little side note: Tomorrow morning, I am having arthroscopic knee surgery on a torn meniscus. I did a lot of advance cooking for the blog so I'll have plenty to post, but please forgive me if I'm not as prompt to comment. 

                                   

Memorial Day: Honoring the Fallen

And please don't forget our veterans...they need our support!



(Comment free post over the holiday)