Easy Gluten and Dairy Free Crepes
It’s under a week until pancake day but let’s be real, pancakes and crepes are for any day.
Though I do love an Amercian style fluffy banana pancake, I also love it’s French cousin the thin and deliciate crepe.
I was never a lemon and sugar or maple syrup girl, for me it was always chocolate. As a kid I’d fill the centre of the crepe with as much Nutella as humanly possible. I still do that now, but with homemade nutella or a few squares of melted dark chocolate accompanied by fresh berries. Or I’d use yogurt. I’m really into yogurt at the moment: for breakfast (with pancakes or granola), in snack bowls (with protein powder, fruit, cinnamon and cacao nibs), or dessert (with dark chocolate).
These are my 3 favourite dairy free yogurts:
What’s the Difference Between Crepes and Pancakes?
Dating back to the Stone age, pancakes contain a raising agent, usually baking powder. This makes them thicker and fluffier, perfect for stacking. Originating from Brittany, France, crepes contain no rasing agent and are therefore much thinner, making them ideal for rolling or folding.
What Flour is Best for Gluten Free Crepes?
Buckwheat, gluten free oat, rice, nut flours, and tapioca all work well. Personally I find a nut flour like almond, chestnut or tigernut, and a lighter flour like tapioca or oat works best. Freee brown bread flour also works well.
How to Avoid Rubbery or Crispy Crepes.
Crepes tend to go slightly rubbery if you cook them for too long or if you’ve poured too much batter in the pan and end up with a thick crepe. Cooking them for too long or at too high of a temperature may result in crispy crepes. I generally add a little coconut oil to a frying pan, ket it get hot then turn the heat down and add a little mixture to the pan. Then I tilt the pan to allow the pancake mixture reach the pan edges.
Topping Ideas:
- Fruit
- Jam
- Yogurt
- Dark chocolate
- Nut butter
- Maple syrup
- Honey
This recipe serves approx. 2 to 3 people. For a single serve (about 2 crepes) I’d use 60 grams of flour total (30g of a nut flour, 30g of oat flour/ freee brown bread flour/ tapioca flour, 1 egg and enough milk to create the right consistency.
Ingredients
- 80g almond/ chestnut/ tigernut flour
- 80g* tapioca flour (or rice flour)
- Pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- 280ml – 300 ml almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla**
*for protein pancakes I use 20g protein powder & 30g tapioca, 30g nut flour
**for savoury crepes that can be used as wraps omit the vanilla. Free brown bread flour or almond flour works best for savoury as chestnut and tigernut have a slight sweet taste to them.
Method
- Add all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Heat a frying pan over a medium heat with a little coconut oil.
- Ladel in the batter and tilt the pan to spread the mixture around the pan.
- Cook until the crepe starts to peel away from the pan at the sides. Flip and cook the other side. Repeat.
- Top or fill with your favourite toppings.
