Tag Archives: caramel

Easy Caramel Custard

This one’s hands down, one of the simplest, can’t-go-wrong desserts! It’s simple, basic, uses 4 everyday ingredients and goes down well on hot summer days or cool winter afternoons. Give it a go if you’ve got time on your hand!
“Life’s too short! Just buy those shoes, drink that wine and eat that caramel custard
The Fact: Caramel custard is known by different names around the world; notably, ‘crème caramel’ or ‘crème renversée au caramel’ in France and most of Europe, ‘flan’ in Spain (where it originated), ‘crema caramella’ in Italy and ‘purin’ in Japan. It’s easy to confuse this dessert with crème brûlée (a variant of the dessert with a hard caramel top), which seems pretty similar, but isn’t.
The Inspiration: One Sunday afternoon, the husband and I got into one of those random, benign discussions-turned-arguments, which most couples have probably encountered… you know the one about whose turn it is to make breakfast. When these post-argument silences kick in, I’ve noticed that my almost-immediate reaction is to jump into the kitchen and whip up a dessert that’s been on my mind. And though the objective is always to eat most of it and just find bliss, it somehow finds its way to the husband’s stomach and suddenly all is forgotten and everyone lives happily ever after! That’s just what happened a few weeks ago and voila, there was caramel custard in the house… 😉

The Ingredients

Makes about one 10×10″ baking dish of dessert

  • 2/3rd + ½ cup sugar
  • 2 ½ cups milk (I used whole milk. You can substitute 1 cup with fresh cream for a richer dessert)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence or 1 vanilla pod
  • Optional: 2 – 3 pepper corns

The Method

Setting the caramel

Preheat the oven to 180C or 350F.

Place 2/3rd cup of sugar in a skillet or any thick-bottomed pan. Heat the pan on slow to medium heat (not on high because sugar burns quite quickly). Leave undisturbed (or swirl but don’t stir) as the sugar melts. This ensures that the sugar melts evenly and the caramel develops an even colour. However, if you’re running low on patience (or if you want a lighter colour), add a tablespoon or two of water to get the sugar to start caramelizing faster.

Once the sugar has fully caramelized and has developed that deep brown colour, remove from heat and pour directly into a baking dish or into individual ramekins. Swirl the dish/ramekins to evenly coat the bottom with the caramel. Also make sure you hurry with this process because the caramel will start to harden, after which it doesn’t flow easily.

Leave aside to cool.

Setting the caramel for caramel custard

Notice the height of the caramel in the baking dish in this image:

Caramel set aside to harden for caramel custard

Making the custard

Microwave or heat the milk in a saucepan on medium heat. If you’re using fresh milk, make sure you boil it well and then leave it to cool a little. If you’re using pre-boiled milk, simply heat it up, but do not boil it.

If you’re using vanilla bean instead of vanilla essence, add it in to the milk at this point to extract its flavor. I also threw in 2 – 3 pepper corns for added flavor.

Set aside to cool.

The milk and vanilla set aside to cool for caramel custard

Next, break the eggs in a separate bowl. I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to it as well.

Eggs for caramel custard

Beat the eggs with the remaining ½ cup of sugar. When it’s light and foamy, add the warm milk to the eggs in a thin, steady stream. If your milk is too hot at this point, your eggs will scramble; you do not want this to happen.

If you’re using vanilla essence, add it in now and stir gently to incorporate everything.

Strain the custard.

Assembling and baking the dessert

Make a water bath: Take a tray that’s bigger and wider than the baking dish in which you’ve set the caramel. The tray should also have high sides. Fill the tray with about 1” of hot water. Place the baking dish/ramekins with the set caramel into the water bath. Make sure that the hot water level in the tray is not so high that it spills into the baking dish; so adjust the water level accordingly. Remember that the water bath is used to prevent burning and to ensure even cooking.

Caramel set and placed in a water bath for caramel custard

Check to see that your caramel is set or is hard to touch. By now, it should be. Now, gently pour the strained custard mixture into the baking dish (not the water bath tray), over the set caramel. Place the water bath containing the baking dish in the oven.

Bake for about 30 – 40 minutes at 180C or 350F, or until the centre of the custard is firm but slightly wobbly. Don’t overcook the dessert or you’ll end up with tough custard instead of a silky, tender one.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Serving the dessert

Caramel custard is best eaten chilled. However, if you want to serve it warm, place the baking dish/ramekins in a cold water bath for about 10 minutes. Always make sure that the water level of the water bath is lower than the rim of your baking dish. Now, run a knife between the custard and edges of the dish/ramekins. Place the serving dish/dishes upside down over the baking dish/ramekins and quickly flip the two. Serve upturned with the caramel side up. The caramel will have turned into a delicious syrupy glaze.

Caramel custard

If you’re serving the dessert chilled, allow the baking dish to cool before refrigerating it. Refrigerate for a few hours until it has chilled completely. Serve by running a knife between the custard and edges of the dish/ramekins and then flipping the dessert onto the serving dishes, with the caramel side up.

Caramel custard

For an extra treat, serve with fruit or whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Bon appétit! 🙂

 

That Perfect Rum-Oozing Christmas Fruitcake!

The perfectly moist, heavenly, rum-packed Christmas fruitcake! You have to try it to believe it! 🙂

 

The Fact: Fruitcake was often put into ancient Egyptian tombs because it was thought the preserved food would not spoil on the journey to the afterlife.
The Inspiration: With Thanksgiving just over, it’s already time to prepare for the next big celebration—Christmas! Despite all the Christmas clichés, the season brings with it this beautiful warm feelings right in the middle of a wintry cold December. Along with the family holidays, delicious meals, subtle and beautiful decorations, the Christmas tree, and the melodious carollers, there’s also the traditional Christmas cake that’s a ritual in so many homes. In my home, the scene’s no different—my mornings begin with the sweet sound of carols, the crazy annual cleaning’s in full swing, shopping’s on the cards, gift lists are being prepared and the sweet smell of sherry, rum and brandy is wafting through my kitchen as I type. Yes, my Christmas cake ritual has been set in motion. It’s a tried and tested recipe that’s been handed down to me by my mum. Isn’t it time for you to make this lovely, rum-oozing Christmas cake recipe your own?
So before the season kicks in, here’s wishing you a joyful Christmas and a good-food-filled New year!

The Ingredients

Makes one 10″ cake
  • 100 gms raisins
  • 100 gms currants
  • 100 gms almonds (soaked overnight and peeled)
  • 50 gms pistachios (soaked overnight and peeled)
  • 50 gms peeled cashew nuts
  • 50 gms orange peel or finely grated orange zest (approx 4 – 5 oranges)
  • 50 gms candied ginger peel
  • 50 gms glace cherries
  • 250 gms softened butter
  • 100 gms muscovado or Demerera sugar
  • 150 gms regular white sugar
  • 250 gms plain flour
  • 1.5 litre dark rum (I’ve heard of friends using sherry instead, but haven’t tried it myself, so feel free to experiment)
  • 4 large or 5 small eggs
  • 2 heaped tsp mixed spice (Mixed spice is a mixture of Allspice powder [powdered form of a specific pepper, called Pimenta dioica], cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.) – For this recipe, you can make mixed spice with six 1″ sticks of cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp ground/finely grated nutmeg. To it add 1 tsp ground ginger. Roast all the spices on a pan or in a microwave. When cool, grind all the spices to a fine powder. Store the extra powder in a glass, airtight container—remember, the aroma is the key so don’t let it escape!)

The Method

Soaking the fruit

Chop the raisins and currants, lengthwise, each, roughly into three bits.

Currants beings chopped

Finely slice the orange peel, candied ginger peel, almonds, pistachios, and cashew nuts, lengthwise; do not julienne them or they’ll get lost in the cake.

Chopped almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts    Chopped orange peel    Chopped candied ginger

Mix together the cut fruits and toss them into a large glass jar with a tight lid. Leave enough space at the top, almost one-fourth of the jar. Use two glass jars if required. Pour 1 litre rum over the fruits and ensure that the rum completely covers the fruits. Tightly seal the bottle to prevent the alcohol from evaporating. As days go by and the fruits soak up the rum, the level of rum will reduce. Keep topping up the jar with rum so that the fruits always stay completely covered with rum. Store the glass jar in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight; you do not need to refrigerate the jar. These conditions allow the fruits to soak in as much rum as they can.

Chopped fruits soaked in rum

Allow the fruit to soak for as long as you can. I usually soak the next year’s fruit this year so that the fruit has soaked for a whole year. I’ve noticed that the fruits develop a lovely deep colour and the flavor is quite indescribable. I do this year after year—trust me, there’s no down side to it. Fruits stored in the right way, with the rum level always higher than the fruit level, can stay good for up to 2 – 3 years. So, the procedure in this recipe is actually for next year’s cake while I’m using last year’s fruit batch this year. If you haven’t already gotten started yet, start now so that your fruits have had at least 2 – 3 weeks of soak time before you bake your Christmas cake.

Bottle of chopped fruits soaked in rum

Preparations for baking the cake

Caramelize the sugar: If you prefer a dark brown colour and a lovely caramelized flavor to your cake, which is my preference, caramelize the sugars first. To do so, place a non-stick skillet or frying pan on the stove on low to medium heat. Make sure that the pan is not too small or the caramel will boil and overflow. Add the brown and white sugars to the pan while it’s still cold. Both sugars melt at slightly different temperatures, but that doesn’t matter. Allow the sugar to melt untouched, while gradually prodding the edges from time to time. Once all the sugar has melted completely, sprinkle a quarter cup of water over the caramel to prevent it from hardening while you ready the batter. The caramel should be a deep golden brown at this point; not brown-black. WARNING! Take care as you pour the water because water causes the caramel to sizzle quite a bit. Make sure your fingers are far away from the pan. Don’t worry about dirtying your stove because caramel cleans up very easily with regular water. Once the sizzling has stopped, stir the sugar and water and keep the caramel aside to cool. Remember that water prevents caramel from hardening; without water, caramel tends to harden, making it difficult for you to add it to the batter later.

Butter and brown sugar blend

Ready the fruits: Using a slotted spoon, measure out 550 gms of the soaked fruits (that’s all of it if you’ve used the measures suggested above). Try to drain out as much of the rum as you can. Store the rum; it’d be criminal to discard it 🙂 Chop up the glace cherries and mix it with the fruit mixture. Sprinkle the fruit mixture with a generous handful of flour and toss the fruits in it so that the fruits are lightly coated with the flour. Keep aside.

Prepare the cake tins: Grease one cake tin. I used a 10”/25cm wide and 2” deep, round tin. You could also use a standard 9”/23cm round tin or a 9 x 2” square tin. But remember that if you use the smaller tin, you might end up with a little batter to spare. You could pop that extra batter into cup cake moulds; but avoid overloading the cake tin instead. Spray the tin with grease or lightly grease it with butter.

Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas 1.

Making the cake batter

For your cake batter, beat up the butter and eggs together in a large bowl with an electric, hand-held or free-standing beater. Add the caramel to the mixture. If your caramel is too hot, the eggs will scramble at this point. You don’t want this to happen, so get started after the caramel has sat for a few minutes. Beat the mixture well until fully blended.

Add the four and mixed spice and beat thoroughly until blended.

Whisk in about half a cup of the leftover rum (which is what I do—but if you have a lot of kids around or don’t like a very strong rum flavor, use a quarter cup or skip this step altogether).

Stir in the soaked fruits. Don’t beat this in as the fruits are very soft and may break up completely. You also don’t want to overdo the beating because the fruits will settle to the bottom of the cake—again, something you don’t want. So, be gentle.

Pour or spoon the batter into the readied cake tin and pop it into the oven.

Christmas rum fruitcake batter

Baking the cake

Bake the cake for a total of 2.5 – 3 hours in the centre of the oven, or until the cake feels firm to the touch and is a rich golden brown. Check after two hours, and if the cake is a perfect colour, cover with foil.

Note that while this baking time of 3 hours might seem ridiculous, you should know that most other cakes bake at 180C/350F/Gas 4, which is way higher than what this Christmas cake bakes at. This duration ensures that the fruits in the cake cook well and their flavors are well incorporated in the cake. Also note that oven temperatures work differently—so check your cake after two hours and again in another 30 minutes. Don’t let the cake dry out too much.

Remove the cake when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. When still warm, pierce the cake at intervals with a fine skewer and pour in a little extra rum. Allow the cake to cool completely.

Christmas rum fruitcake

Storing the cake

Wrap the completely cooled cake in a double layer of grease-proof paper and a third layer of foil OR one layer of foil and a second layer of cling wrap. Store the cake in a cool place until Christmas! You can store this cake for up to three months outside a refrigerator and even up to a year in the refrigerator. Remove the foil and cling wrap only when you’re about to cut the cake, and even after that, place the remaining cake or the uneaten bits back in the foil and cling wrap as suggested earlier. The layers keep the cake moist and retain that lovely rum aroma.

To keep the cake moist, feed it with rum every 3 weeks. Remember to wrap it up all over again before you store it.

Bon appétit and Feliz Navidad!

Greetings from The Chill Grill

Banoffee Pie

Make this one out of love for the name of the dessert, if not the banana-toffee combination 🙂

 

Q. Ever wondered where the phrase “to go bananas” came from?
A. Why try when banana pancakes, choco-banana cakes, banana splits, and banoffee pies are all capable of driving you crazy?”
The Fact: Banoffee Pie was invented in 1972 at the Hungry Monk restaurant in England. It is rumored to be Mrs Thatcher’s favourite pudding.
The Inspiration: It was 10pm on the 11th of August, the eve of my birthday. As weird as it sounds, I love baking my own birthday cake, but this time, I wanted something different… “Why not some pie?”… thought I (rhyme attempt alert!).

The Ingredients

Makes 12 – 15 servings
The Base
  • 100 g melted butter
  • 250 g digestive biscuits; crushed (wrap up the biscuits in a soft cloth and beat it up any way you like; it can be a lot of fun)

The Toffee Filling

  • 100 g butter
  • 100 g Demerera sugar or any other soft brown sugar (avoid the regular white sugar because it makes the dessert too sweet)
  • 400 g condensed milk (sweetened)

The Topping

  • 6 – 8 ripe, but firm bananas (make sure that the bananas are sweet or the topping ends up being quite tasteless)
  • 250 g whipping cream

The Method

  • Take a 9-inch, loose-bottomed pie pan/tart pan and tip the crushed biscuits into it.
  • Add the melted butter to the crushed biscuits and mix well. Using the back of a spoon,  press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the pan, firmly, to form the pie shell. Chill in the refrigerator until the filling is ready.

Biscuit base pie crust

  • Place a frying pan or a skillet on the fire, on medium heat. Add the brown sugar to the pan. As the sugar starts to melt, add the butter.
  •  Butter and brown sugar blend
  • Stir together lightly and then leave undisturbed till the sides begin to melt. Nudge the edges from time to time, but avoid disturbing the melting process. Remember that you want the lovely burnt caramel colour and aroma; don’t worry about burning the sugar too far as long as the stove is on medium heat and not on high. The colour of the toffee depends on the colour of the caramel. 

Butter and brown sugar blend

Butter and brown sugar blend for banoffee pie

  • When the sugar has completely melted, add the condensed milk and bring the mixture to a boil on medium heat, stirring continuously. Turn off the heat as soon as the now-formed toffee takes on the right colour.

Toffee for banoffee pie

  • Pour the toffee into the biscuit base and leave undisturbed to cool. Move to the refrigerator and leave until the toffee becomes firm. This should take a few hours if the toffee has been cooled sufficiently before refrigerating.

Toffee for banoffee pie

Toffee for banoffee pie

  • After the toffee is firm, slice the bananas and place them over the toffee layer. Avoid slicing the bananas too much in advance because they’ll turn black due to oxidation, and won’t make a pretty plate.

Sliced bananas

Sliced bananas decorated for banoffee pie

  • Quickly whip up the cream and place it over the bananas. You can add your layers in any way you like it and can vary the thickness of each layer too.
  • Chill the dessert before serving it, if not, it makes the servings difficult and messy to cut through.

     

    Eat away. Bon appétit! 🙂

Banoffee Pie

Sausage Potato Quiche

The quiche has always been one of those fascinating kitchen creations that has an exotic appeal with a sprinkling of humility. I’m not sure whether it’s the many variations of the dish, its humble beginnings in Germany and France, its popularity after World War II, or the sheer simplicity of the dish. Just can’t seem to put my finger on it…

 

“Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche”— A book by Bruce Feirstein; a bestseller satirizing stereotypes of masculinity
The Fact:  Why is the Quiche Lorraine named so? It is believed that Quiche Lorraine is a recipe traditionally from Lorraine, France, near the border with Germany. In reality, the classic Quiche originated in Lothringen, Germany, a region initially under German rule; however, it was renamed Lorraine when it came under French control. In fact, the word ‘quiche’ is derived from the German word for cake, ‘kuchen.’
The Inspiration: My fascination with the “quiche” began when I was 16 and was introduced to a quaint little French café that opened up next to the college I went to. A little late, I agree, but quiche was just not a regular in my house. I still remember spotting the quiche as a cute little something with pretty, wavy edges, and beautiful, golden brown bacon bits sprinkled over it… I just had to give it a try! And with that introduction, began my love affair with quiches and tarts and pies and short crust pastries, and the eagerness to master them all. To me, this dish is really not so much about the taste; it’s about the beauty in its simplicity—the simplicity in the ingredients, the preparation and the result.

The Ingredients

This dish makes 6 – 8 servings.

Pie Crust or Short-Crust Pastry

  • 1¼ cup (175 g) all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup butter (115 g or ¼ lb) frozen or chilled butter
  • ¼ to ½ cup (60 – 120 ml) cold water
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Quiche Filling

  • 3 large potatoes; grated, using a regular cheese grater

Grated potatoes

  • 2 cups of diced, chopped or minced sausages
  • 1 cup of chopped bacon

For a vegetarian/vegan quiche, simply drop the sausages and bacon or then, add any other ingredient you like.

Chopped bacon and sausages

  • ½ cup of diced bell peppers (Use a combination of yellow and red for a pretty quiche)
  • 1 cup diced mushrooms
  • About 15 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped (I love garlic and usually use a lot of it.)

Finely chopped garlic

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Salt to taste

Egg Custard

  • 3 large or 4 small eggs
  • 2/3rd cup milk
  • A pinch of salt for each egg

The Method

Making the Short-Crust Pastry or Quiche Crust

  • Click here to read up on how to make the perfect short-crust pastry, pie crust or quiche crust.

Pie Crust

Making the Filling

  • Heat a skillet or frying pan on medium heat. Add the butter to the pan and allow it to simmer lightly. Do not burn the butter or allow it to turn brown.
  • Toss in the finely chopped garlic and allow it to brown slightly.

Garlic in butter

  • Add the bacon and let it release some lovely flavor into the pan as the fat melts. Allow the bacon to brown.

Bacon and garlic in butter

  • If you haven’t already grated the potatoes, now’s the time to do it. Remember to sprinkle a few pinches of salt over the grated potatoes. Give it a toss. Keep it aside.
  • Add the mushrooms and let them cook in the butter and fat, while absorbing the flavours in the pan. Mushrooms also release a lot of water. Allow the water to dry up as much as possible.
  • Now, toss in the chopped/minced sausages and the shredded potatoes.
  • After about 2 minutes, add the diced bell peppers.
  • Sautee the ingredients for a few minutes, or until all the water has dried up.
  • Season the mixture with salt, freshly ground pepper, and a sprinkling of sugar. You could even add a soup cube for more taste, but if you do, remember to adjust the salt.
  • Take the skillet off the heat and allow the mixture to cool down a little

The quiche filling

For a vegetarian/vegan quiche, simply drop the sausages and bacon or then, add any other ingredient you like.

Making the egg custard

  • Whisk the eggs, the milk and the salt together. You’re done.

Assembling the quiche

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Take the ready pie base. Sprinkle the sausage filling into it. Pour the egg custard over the filling.

Pie crust with the filling

  • Sprinkle a little shredded cheese over it. This is completely optional 🙂
  • Bake for about 40-50 minutes, until the top is golden and the egg custard is set.

Serve hot and enjoy! You can refrigerate leftovers for later as well.

Bon appétit!

A piece of quiche

 

Chocolate & Sautéed Banana Crepes

Speaking of comfort foods, who’d have thought that decadent chocolate and a fruit wrapped inside a soft crêpe would be my new favourite dessert… breakfast item… comfort food…?

 

“In a big family the first child is kind of like the first crêpe. If it’s not perfect, that’s okay, there are a lot more coming along.” – Antonin Scalia
The Fact: Crêpes originated in Brittany, France and are considered as the country’s national dish. Crêpes can be compared to the African injera, the tortilla, the Indian dosa and the Mexican sope. 
The Inspiration: So, let’s be honest. I’d like to believe that I’m a serious health-conscious freak, but I’m really not. I have my days. It was one of these days that led a few friends and me to this quaint little patisserie, “Le Plaisir”, which had opened up close to our work place, one August afternoon. Since I wasn’t in the mood for a serious, heavy dessert, I thought about trying out their crêpes. Apart from the regular crêpes (considered as the French-styled pancakes) with whipped cream or maple syrup, I spotted a Nutella and Banana Crêpe. While the Nutella satisfied the dessert craving, the fruit led me to believe it was healthy, which it wasn’t of course! And so I ate… And fell in love… And the banana-chocolate combination became my new favorite duo… So much so that I recreated the dish, rather perfectly, I dare say, the very next day.So unoriginal… right? But like they say… “Love is blind” 🙂

The Ingredients

Makes 10 – 12 crêpes
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
  • 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1 ½ cups milk (for slightly healthier crêpes, use 3/4th cup milk with ½ cup water or buttermilk)
  • 2 large or 3 small eggs
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 large bananas
  • Nutella or readymade chocolate sauce or a few bits of semisweet chocolate melted

Crepes ingredients

The Method

Making the crêpes

Whisk all the dry ingredients—the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder—in a bowl. Remember to add the baking powder only if you’re making the crêpes immediately. If not, add just before use.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and then, add the milk to it. Use room temperature milk—not too hot or too cold. At this point, you could also add a quarter teaspoon of vanilla essence if you don’t like the egg smell.

Using your spatula, create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the egg mixture into it. Gently whisk the dry and wet ingredients together until the mixture appears smooth and without lumps. Add 2 tablespoons melted butter and whisk gently. Remember not to over-whisk the mixture or you’ll lose all the air from it, making your crêpes slightly tougher than the soft, fluffy ones.

crepe batter

It’s a good idea to check for lumps using the back of a spoon, before you proceed.

checking for lumps in the crepe batter

Allow the batter to sit for about 30 – 60 minutes, covered properly (make airtight), in the refrigerator. Note that if you’re making the batter in advance, you can store the batter in an airtight container for up to 1 day. But, when you do so, remember to add the baking powder about 5 minutes before you actually make the crêpes; not earlier.

After refrigeration, whisk the batter to get a smooth, slightly more fluid consistency.

crepe batter

Heat a non-stick pan over a medium flame and add a drizzle of the butter. Don’t let your pan smoke.

Now, add about 1/3 cup batter and swirl it around to completely cover the bottom of the pan or until it reaches the desired size. Cook for about 2 – 3 minutes, until the crêpe looks slightly transparent or until the underside of crêpe is golden brown. Then, using a spatula, loosen the edges slightly and flip the crêpe once, using your fingers.

just flipped crepe

Let the crêpe cook for another minute, then slide it into a plate. Remember, the key is to flip it only once and not more. Give it a try and you can’t go too wrong (and even if you do, you can still eat it).

Repeat the procedure until the batter lasts.

Making the topping/stuffing

With the pan still on the stove, quickly slice the bananas. Add the remaining spoon of sugar to the pan and just when it begins to melt/caramelise (don’t go too far or you’ll be left with hard caramel), toss in the bananas until they are lightly coated and golden brown. Take them off the pan.

Note: You can avoid this step altogether and use plain sliced bananas (without the caramel coating). That’s what I did since the caramel makes the dessert too sweet for my taste.

Serving the crêpes

You have various options here…

  1. Lightly brush the smooth side of the crêpe with some melted chocolate/Nutella/chocolate sauce. Line up some of the banana slices in the centre. Roll up the crêpe and serve.
  2. Lightly brush the smooth side of the crêpe with some melted chocolate/Nutella/chocolate sauce. Line up some of the banana slices in one quarter of the crêpe. Fold the crêpe into that quarter and serve.
  3. Fold a plain crêpe into a quarter and place it on a plate. Toss a few banana slices onto the crêpe. Drizzle some melted chocolate/Nutella/chocolate sauce over it and serve.

crepes and chocolate shavings

Bon appétit! I hope this comfort food gives you all the comfort, joy and heavenly bliss it gave me!