Best Salsa Ever...Really.

I may have mentioned this before, but one thing I really miss about the Midwest is Mexican, or "Mexican" food. Sure, Paris has great condiments but I don't like mayonnaise and as much as I enjoy good mustard, I don't really eat it by the spoonful. 

That's why I miss going out to the Mexican restaurant in Urbana for chicken enchiladas. I love--no, adore--chicken enchiladas and there's only one thing that makes me more excited than a plate of them in front of me. And that thing is the bowl of salsa that arrives before the main course. I have a notorious sweet tooth, but I could eat fresh salsa all day long, with or without chips. Imagine my delight when in Palm Springs, I tasted one of my favorite salsas yet, made by my cousins. The recipe comes from their Mexican grandmother, and lucky for me, I got a copy of the recipe.

Now, there are probably a million debates about what makes salsa "authentic", but I don't really care about that. No, this salsa hits the spot for me. When I taste it, it's 1996 again. It's my birthday, and I'm in the only place I could imagine celebrating at: the Mexican restaurant with chicken enchiladas. My favorite part? Dipping chips into our first, then second, bowl of salsa with my parents while we wait for our food to arrive.

Salsa really is the best way to start a meal. I'll skip the mayo.

Montez Salsa

Note: I made a couple changes according to what I had on hand, in italics

2 cloves garlic (I used one)
6 jalapenos (I only had chopped jalapenos in a jar, so I used those and it turned out fine)
2 cans of chopped stewed tomatoes
1 fresh lime
1/2 bunch cilantro, washed
1/2 TS salt

Drain tomatoes and place in blender.

Cut and wash jalapenos--don't seed them--and mince garlic. Blend both ingredients in a food processor with salt and lime juice. Pour mixture into blender along with tomatoes, and blend until you reach desired consistency.


If you make the salsa a day ahead, it'll be even better: the flavors have time to blend together and the result is really amazing.

Weeknight Dessert Par Excellence

It's good to have a quick dessert that can be whipped up in a few minutes when you have company over during the week. You won't find that many people who decide to bake a huge, decorated layer cake on a weeknight, because usually, weekdays are busy.

Take me, for example. I have class until 6:30 on Mondays, and until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays. Busy schedule, right? Let's not mention that I don't have class on mornings. Oh, and starting March 10th, my school week will officially end on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Admittedly, if I really wanted to I could bake a five-tier layer cake and decorate it on a weeknight. So this idea of a "quick weeknight dessert" doesn't really apply to me right now, but it will starting this summer when I actually start working, so I'm getting a head start. 

There's no better way of getting that early start than making a fondant, the lava-cake-type dessert that every single French person seems to adore. Step into any restaurant and look at the menu: I can practically guarantee you'll see the words "moelleux" or "fondant" somewhere around there. Usually, a fondant au chocolat is made with dark chocolate, the stronger the better. But in this case, the cake is more reminiscent of Nutella--and I don't think anyone has ever complained about Nutella, right? Instead of dark chocolate, milk chocolate and whole hazelnuts come together for a dessert that's simple to make and deeply satisfying. One word of caution: you'll have to watch the oven pretty closely, because baking time varies depending on how you like your cake. Liquid in the center? Stick with 12 minutes, and if you want it to be gooey, go with 20. In any case, this is really a company-worthy dessert, whether you have a half hour to make it or a half day. And if you don't have company, make it anyway: more of the gooey center for you.

Texture of the day: semi-gooey

Fondant aux Noisettes : Gooey Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

serves 6

7 oz. (200g) milk chocolate
3.5 TB (50g) cornstarch
1/2 c.(100g) granulated sugar
7 TB (100g) unsalted butter
3.5 oz., or 1/2 c.(100g) whole hazelnuts
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 320°F / 160°C.

Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler.

Meanwhile, beat eggs and sugar until light in color, and add cornstarch. Combine with butter-chocolate mixture and hazelnuts.

Pour into a buttered 8x8-inch or rectangular pan (9x13 might be too large, I used 20x15 centimeters) and bake anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes, depending on the texture you want.

Let cake cool completely before serving. (If you only cool it slightly, it'll be delicious, but even more filling)

Cupcakes Chocolat-Fluffernutter

Des cupcakes, des cupcakes, et encore des cupcakes. A Paris en tout cas, il semble difficile de tourner la tête sans voir apparaître de petits gâteaux recouverts d'une épaisse couche colorée. Pour les plus légers, il s'agit de crème chantilly mais ça, ce n'est pas un vrai cupcake.

On parle quand même d'une petite douceur bien traditionnelle aux Etats-Unis. Pour être totalement honnête, "dessert d'outre-Atlantique" ne rime pas souvent avec "léger". Prenez la pie américaine, qu'on traduit littéralement par tarte mais qui est tout de même bien plus riche en beurre et en sucre. J'admets que c'est exactement ça qui fait un bon dessert américain: la sensation d'extrême satisfaction lorsqu'on a terminé son assiette (ou qu'on en a repris une seconde fois...ou une troisième). Pour les cupcakes, c'est la même histoire, sauf que pour moi ça a toujours été différent.

Lors des kermesses à l'école qu'on appellait "cake walk" ou "fun fair", les parents apportaient des cupcakes par plateaux. Et là, rien à voir avec ce qu'on a en France: des cupcakes plus fluos les uns que les autres, de la crème au beurre bien riche en beurre...enfin la plupart du temps en margarine. Pour une petite fille de six ans dont la couleur préferée etait le violet, c'etait un peu le paradis. Mais voila le hic: je n'avais pas le droit d'en manger. Eh oui, je suis la fille d'une maman qui aime que ses enfants mangent bon et sain, et surtout qui aime savoir quelles mains ont fabriqué ce qui rentre dans la bouche de ses enfants. Alors ces cupcakes de parents inconnus, c'etait non. 

Fast-forward à une quinzaine d'années plus tard. Maintenant je vis toute seule et je ne suis plus au primaire, donc je ne passe plus mes après-midis entourée de petits gâteaux fluos. Une seule solution: les faire moi-même. 

Et là, frappée par un peu de nostalgie du Midwest, où j'ai grandi, j'ai décidé de revisiter un classique du goûter américain: le fluffernutter sandwich. Au départ, on prend deux tranches de pain. Une tranche sera badigeonnée de beurre de cacahuètes, et l'autre de marshmallow fluff, sorte de crème de chamallows. On colle le tout ensemble et on déguste. Si si, c'est bon. En cupcakes, ça donne quoi? Une base chocolat ultra-moelleuse et un véritable frosting à l'américaine, autrement dit avec du beurre. Du beurre, mais aussi du beurre de cacahuètes, de la crème de chamallows, et du sucre glace.

Pas besoin d'une journée kermesse pour faire ces cupcakes. En plus, ceux-là ne sont pas nés sous X, alors régalez-vous. Et si personne ne vous regarde, vous pouvez même en prendre plusieurs: promis, je ne dirai rien.

Cupcakes Chocolat-Fluffernutter

pour 50 mini-cupcakes

le gâteau

125 ml eau bouillante

55g beurre

230g sucre

55g cacao non sucré

345g farine

1 oeuf

125ml (115g) crème fraîche, allegée si vous voulez

1/2 c. à café sel fin

1/2 c. à café levure chimique

1/2 c. à café bicarbonate de soude

1/2 c. à café extrait de vanille liquide

glaçage

115g crème de marshmallow (on en trouve à Monoprix sous le nom Fluff)

115g beurre de cacahuètes

75g beurre ramolli

1/2 c. à café sel fin

1/2 c. à café extrait de vanille liquide

230g sucre glace

1 à 2 c. à soupe de lait

Préchauffer le four à 180°C.

Dans un grand bowl, mélanger l'eau bouillante, le beurre, sucre, et cacao. jusqu'à ce que le sucre soit  bien dissous.

Ajouter la farine, le sel, bicarbonate et levure chimique en trois temps, en alternant avec l'oeuf, la crème fraîche, et la vanille.

Beurrer un moule à mini-muffins ou y placer des caissettes passant au four. Remplir chaque espace à moitié et cuire 10 à 15 minutes. Laisser refroidir sur une grille avant de glaçer.

Faire le glaçage: mélanger la crème de marshmallow, le beurre, beurre de cacahuètes, sel, et vanille avec un mixer à vitesse réduite.

Ajouter le sucre glace, battre jusqu'à absorption complète, et rajouter le lait pour atteindre la consistance voulue. A l'aide d'une poche a douille, glaçer les cupcakes.

Dégustez!

Chocolate Fluffernutter Cupcakes

Last Saturday, 9 p.m. I place 48 mini-cupcakes on a tray in my apartment.

Same day, 10 p.m. Where have all the cupcakes gone?

I've rarely seen something disappear so fast. Well, unless you count every time I make a pan of blondies, because they seem to evaporate in less than an hour. The problem with those, however, is that I know exactly where they went: in my stomach.

In the case of these little guys, I only had time to munch on one before I handed the last one out, so I'm guessing they were a success! Like I explained right here, I organized a Valentine's Day get-together for twenty or so friends last week. I wanted my guests to taste something new, that you wouldn't really know about in France. One distinctly American flavor combination went straight to my mind: the Fluffernutter. You may remember me discovering this a little while ago, and now I can't really get my hands off it. 

I definitely wanted to incorporate a sour cream chocolate base because I haven't found a single chocolate cake recipe I enjoy more than this one. Next, I thought that playing around with the frosting would be fun. I browsed around the web, my cookbooks, and especially my cupboards. See, you can't just go out to the nearest grocery store and buy a jar of Marshmallow Fluff around here. (I'm not complaining, though, because we have delicious things like crème de marrons that more than make up for it.) And it turns out I had exactly 1/2 cup of fluff left, so that pretty much structured my frosting recipe.

I would, however, recommend making mini-versions of these unless you're used to having rich peanut-butter-laden pastries. I could probably eat ten full-sized ones, but mini is probably the way to go for a party. Unless you're planning on serving cold jugs of milk instead of cocktails, which is an idea. But then you have to deal with all the lactose intolerants, the people who only like chocolate milk, or those who refuse to have anything but warm milk. I'd rather take the easy way out: gin and tonics.

P.S.: You might notice that the same post is going to appear in French in a little while. No, I'm not becoming a learn-by-baking language teacher, but I'm participating in a French "cupcake day". I am thinking about writing some posts on a French version of this blog--what do you think?

Chocolate Fluffernutter Cupcakes

makes approx. 50 mini-cupcakes

for the cake

1/2 cup boiling water

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups flour

1 egg

1/2 cup sour cream (I used 4% crème fraîche)

1/2 TS salt 

1/2 TS baking powder

1/2 TS baking soda

1/2 TS vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.

In a large bowl, combine boiling water, butter, sugar, cocoa. Beat until sugar is dissolved.

 

Add dry ingredients, alternating with egg, sour cream, and vanilla extract. 

 

Fill cupcake cups about half full and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

for the frosting

1/2 c. marshmallow fluff

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

1/3 c. butter, softened

1/4 TS salt

1/2 TS vanilla extract

1 c. confectioners' sugar

1 to 2 TB milk

Combine fluff, peanut butter, butter, salt, and vanilla with a mixer on low speed. 

Add confectioners' sugar, beat until blended, and add enough milk to reach desired consistency.

Spicy Cheddar-Chipotle Madeleines

In France, madeleines are pretty much the one sweet thing everyone has had before. They're as famous as La Joconde, and you can find them in most bakeries at any given time. Thanks to Marcel Proust, who wrote in length about them, they've come to represent sweet memories you associate with childhood. In fact, most people had their first madeleines as a four o'clock snack when coming home from school as children.

The best madeleines are often thought to come from Commercy, a town in the Eastern Lorraine region of France where they originated in the late 18th century. One thing Commercy madeleines aren't, however, is savory.

But hey, why not?

I wanted my savory madeleines to be the perfect snack for the apéro, the French tradition of having a drink in the early evening before dinner. Once the weather gets nice, you can walk along any street in Paris and you'll probably see loads of people having a glass of wine before dinner, around 6 p.m. A nice savory madeleine shouldn't be bland; it should have bold flavors, something that sticks around in your mind. 

I looked around my freezer and noticed I still had some chipotles in adobo lying around. Unconventional for a madeleine, sure, but I imagined it could only be delicious if you added a little cheddar alongside the chipotle. And delicious it was!

Seriously, if you're looking for a super simple snack for a cocktail party or buffet, try this. The shape is a nice change from mini-muffins and the like, and the taste is really something. Pair it with a strong glass of red wine and it'll be perfect. Even Proust might have enjoyed it.

Spicy Cheddar-Chipotle Madeleines

makes 10 large madeleines

2 eggs, separated
1/3 c. + 1 TS (80g) all-purpose flour
1 TS (5g) baking powder
4 TB oil
scant 1/4 c. (50g) cheddar, chopped into tiny cubes
1 chipotle pepper, chopped
1 TB adobo sauce
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 230°C / 450°F.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and egg yolks. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg whites by hand.

Mix egg whites and oil into the bowl. Add remaining ingredients and blend until just combined.

Spread batter into greased madeleine pans. Bake for 4 minutes, turn oven temperature down to 180°C / 350°F, and bake another 6 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of a madeleine comes out clean.

Cool on a rack, and eat the same day if possible: the fresher they are, the better.

Sugar Cookies: One-Way Ticket to the Past

Believe it or not, until Saturday I had never made cookie-cutter cookies on my own. No, really. This is the part where you look at me and frown, and say something like "Tsk, tsk. And you say you're infatuated with baking? Yeah right."

Well, I could add that I have made sugar cookies before, but never the cut-out kind. You have to understand that I don't actually have a full-sized kitchen, meaning that I have zero--yes, zero--counter space. And that means I can't bust out a rolling pin and get cookie-cutting very often. Also, I don't have little kids running around to whom I can show how to draw a straight line when you're icing a cookie. Not that I can really do that either, but you get the point.

Basically, I hadn't had nicely-shaped homemade sugar cookies since I was little. Until Saturday, as I said. And Saturday, my life just got a little better, if that's possible. As they say over here, I started to "voir la vie en rose". Partly because my cookies were pink, and so were my hands and face since they were covered in food coloring. But mostly because making and icing these cookies was like a blast from the past, when my maman and I would cut cookies into shapes on the dining room table.

I'll let you in on a little secret: something else made me fall over in a frenzy of "how is this possible I can't believe it this is the best day of my life". The cookies were pink, and the icing had almond extract. And I know at least one person reading this blog who knows exactly what a pink, almond-tasting baked good makes me think of: my birthday cake. I won't say much about it for now except that my birthday cake is a recipe created by my maman, so nobody else can say they have the same in the whole wide world. (Notice how the title of this post is really true since I'm starting to act like when I was six years old again.) It has raspberries, toasted almonds, and a tiny layer of bright pink icing. Oh, man. Whew.

Back to the cookies.

These cookies are the real deal--if you don't believe me, ask the twenty others who thought they were soft, sweet, and (this is me speaking) the most delicious heart-shaped sugar cookies ever. I'm not a crunchy cookie kind of girl, and these were soft without breaking apart. Yum. I regret eating the last six yesterday, because I don't have any left for today. I mean, I really think the dark chocolate Crunch hearts and mini Valentine's Day Snickers would have enjoyed being accompanied by pink sugar cookies in my stomach. It's alright. Now I just have an excuse to make some again soon.

One more thing: is anything seriously cuter than cookies you can put your own personalized message on? I think not. Well, puppies maybe.

Rolled Sugar Cookies

makes 30 cookies

adapted from allrecipes

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 TS vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 TS baking powder
1/2 TS salt
Pink gel food coloring

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined, and knead in food coloring.

Cover and chill dough for at least one hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Place dough in between two sheets of plastic wrap or on a floured surface and roll out until dough is 1/4-inch thick. Cut into shapes and place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes, and cool completely before icing.

Almond Cookie Icing

makes enough to ice 30 cookies

1 c. confectioner's sugar
1 - 1 1/2 TB milk
2 TS honey
1/4 TS almond extract
food coloring

Mix confectioner's sugar, honey, and almond extract in a medium bowl. Thin to desired consistency with milk, and add food coloring.

Dip cookies in icing or paint it on. Cookies will dry completely in about 3 hours.

Note: light corn syrup is hard to find here, so I used honey. However, use light corn syrup if you can--it'll make your icing shiny.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night was my first official Valentine's Day party, complete with Sweet Tart and Dove chocolate favors and bright red doilies. Oh, the nostalgia. Remember when you would go around giving cards to everyone in your first grade class? I used to make my own with shiny heart stickers and was so proud when I would receive store-bought ones that were nothing special compared to mine, meaning not pink and shiny the way I liked them. 

During the week, I finally got to get back to some real cooking, but most of all got to show my French friends that Valentine's Day isn't only for couples--it's especially a day to show your friends and loved ones you care about them, and I think the message got across just fine judging by their looks when they were handed pink goody bags on their way out.

Here's a quick look at the food to come over the week on the blog. All new recipes, mostly invented or tweaked in some way or another. Stay tuned! 

And most of all, happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Indulge in another day of being able to eat candy and chocolate for 24 hours straight...although I hear the Cadbury Mini Eggs have hit the shelves for Easter, so this whole eating chocolate thing might will surely outlast Valentine's Day. "Oh well". (Read: Woohoo!)

 

 

Simple Wontons

Have you ever decided that you were going to stop roaming around the aisles of the grocery store, trying to figure out what you wanted to cook for the upcoming week? That's how things usually go down for me, and once in a while I promise myself that I'll make a list of what I feel like cooking for the next seven days.

Last week was a "list week". The problem is, I had accumulated a nice pile of recipes during that terrifying month when I couldn't cook. Just imagine how crazy I would have become in a supermarket without a list. I'm pretty sure I would have grabbed a little of everything, convinced it would be perfect in such-or-such dish. But I had a list this time around. No way was I going to let myself fall into that trap. Right before hopping over to the store, I surveyed the list of delicious food awaiting me this week. And I counted: one, two, three...nine dishes. Each one would obviously leave enough for the next day, and there are not eighteen meals in one week (well, there's breakfast, but I'm not having stuffed bell peppers at 8 a.m.). I can't blame myself: it's almost Mardi Gras and I'm craving gumbo and jambalaya. I'm also craving a ton of other foods, so I had to make a difficult choice: the gumbo and jambalaya will have to wait. Enter my simple wontons!

Easy to make--although folding them up takes as much time as getting a roux going--and light on ingredients, they're also a lot of fun if you're planning on making them with kids. Considering myself to be a life-long kid, I can admit I had a blast. The process is rewarding, too: you end up with fifteen little wontons that can be steamed whenever you want in the coming days and eaten with soup or salad.

So put that huge list down, and get your wonton groove on.

Simple Wontons

makes 15 

15 wonton wrappers
1/2 pound lean ground pork
1/4 c. scallions
1 TB freshly grated ginger
1 medium carrot, grated
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB rice vinegar
2 TS sriracha
1/2 TS salt
1 TB sesame oil

Mix all ingredients except sesame oil in a medium bowl. Marinate for at least fifteen minutes, and up to an hour.

Heat sesame oil in a pan on medium-high. Add all ingredients and cook until pork has browned and juices have reduced.

Place wonton wrapper on a flat surface, and moisten edges with water. Place 1 TB filling in the center. Fold two opposite edges together to create a triangle. Bring both opposite ends of the triangle together, and fold top end onto the other two (moisten with more water if needed).

To prepare wontons, place in a steamer for 10-15 minutes. Serve over salad, or make a quick soup with broth, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Serve warm.

Never too late for Pumpkin Desserts

I'm sure a lot of people forget all about pumpkin puree between December and the following October. Why deal with pumpkins and pumpkin pie spice when that's nearly all you've been baking with for the Fall months? I'll admit, it is easy to forget about things like that. You get all caught up in the moment when you start baking Christmas goodies, then Valentine's Day, and then...it's springtime and the warmth of spices doesn't have the same appeal anymore.

Well, I suggest that everyone include pumpkin into their desserts all year long. Seriously, everyone goes on and on about how they want to have a healthier lifestyle in the first months of the year (and then, once the Superbowl comes along, that seems to disappear). Pumpkin is extremely good for you, and can replace a large part of the butter or oil you usually use in muffins. Convinced yet?

Although this isn't healthy per se, I had another chance to delight in my Pumpkin Cheesecake which you can find right here. I had way too much filling last time around, so I baked crust-less cheesecakes and froze them up. Tea with my friend Claire was the perfect opportunity to bring them back out; I quickly baked up some new crusts and put the cheesecakes together. Unfortunately, I sort of forgot that the wetness of the filling is what makes the crust nice and soft--putting them together at the last minute ensured that my crust was everything but soft. OK, maybe a knife was involved to eat these mini-cheesecakes, but it's nothing a few hours in the fridge couldn't have fixed.

And the cute heart shape? Perfect for a Valentine's Day dessert that doesn't involve an overload of chocolate. Unless, of course, you decide to indulge in chocolate as a side dish: my kind of healthy lifestyle.

By the way, you might notice something has changed around here: I added all my post labels on the side for easier access. Happy browsing!

Love Cookies

It's almost Valentine's Day, and specially-themed cakes, cupcakes, and cookies have been popping up everywhere. Although these cookies would be a perfect treat for that special someone, they became Love Cookies for various specific reasons that actually have nothing to do with February 14th.

First of all, they were the first thing I baked, less than 24 hours after getting my casts taken off on Thursday. For now, my left hand looks a little deformed, but the fact that I was so excited about getting back into the kitchen could only mean one thing. I am officially in love with baking. And while some may have a love child--although that's a completely different issue--these are my love cookies. All week long, all I could think about was them. I thought the recipe out in my mind over and over again, hoping the toasted sesame and chestnut combo would turn out to be what I wanted. Infatuated might be a better word than in love, actually, just like I was infatuated with Johnny Depp when I was little. (Please don't tell anyone I recently bought a Pirates of the Caribbean t-shirt.)

Most importantly, I wanted these cookies to be exactly what they turned out to be: sweet and simple. That's what all true love stories are about, aren't they? 

True love, in my mind, is embodied by the story of how my French grandfather and grandmother met. It all started with letters sent by my grandmother to bring up the spirits of French troops fighting the colonial wars in Vietnam in the late 1940s, and somehow her letters got in the hands of my grandfather. After writing back and forth, they ended up meeting when he came back on leave and as the French saying goes, "ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants". 

The thought of a lifetime of love starting with a simple letter, in my mind, is as sweet as it gets. I wish I could hear dozens more, but I never got to meet my grandmother, who passed away much too young.

I just like to think that wherever my grandparents both are right now, they would approve of such a cookie as a tribute to them. And wherever you are, go ahead and try these. I can promise they'll bring a nice touch of sweetness to your day!

Sesame-Chestnut Love Cookies

makes approx. 15 small cookies

1/4 c. butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1/2 TS vanilla extract
2 TB brown sugar
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
2 TB toasted sesame seeds
Chestnut cream (crème de marrons)

Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. In a medium bowl, cream butter, sugar vanilla and egg yolk. Add flour and salt, and mix until combined. Add toasted sesame seeds and mix.

Refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes so it firms up. On a baking sheet, shape dough into small tablespoon-sized balls. Flatten a little with your palm, and press thumb into the center to make an indentation. Fill with chestnut cream.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on baking sheet, and carefully slide onto a rack to cool.

Cookies will keep a few days stored in an airtight container.

Crêpes for Dinner

Today is a holiday in France called "La Chandeleur"--not a holiday where you get off work, unfortunately, but a small holiday nonetheless. For the historical background, it celebrates the day Jesus was presented to the Temple of Jerusalem and the Virgin Mary was purified, or something like that. "Chandeleur" comes from chandelles, or candles, used to represent purification. People would bring candles back from mass and put them on their windowsill. Today, however, people don't really remember February 2nd for its religious meaning, but rather for the crêpes we feast on every year. Apparently, an old superstition said that if you didn't make crêpes on Chandeleur, then the wheat crops would be bad throughout the year to come.

Anyway, whatever the true meaning is, I don't think twice when I get the opportunity to eat sweet crêpes as dinner. Sure, you could have savory ones, but I still like to stick to how things were done when I was young.

Did you ever have "breakfast for dinner" nights at home when you were little? We never officially had those, but we did have crêpe nights. Maman would make classic sweet crepes and I would fill them up with sugar, Nutella or jam. I would roll them up like big cigars and chomp away happily, so glad that I could legitimately satisfy my sweet tooth along with the rest of my family.

Speaking of cigars, I remembered the strangest thing the other day. For a short while, when I was ten or so, I took a liking to chocolate cigarettes. Before any of you scream out in outrage on how bad an influence they are for kids, I'd like to add that I have never taken up smoking since, and certainly don't plan on it. Chocolate cigarettes were, in one word, cool. For me at least: the packs had Anglo-sounding names like "Hillsbury" and portrayed large plantation-like mansions sitting on top of pastel hills. I would sit at my desk and try to look as nonchalant as possible, "smoking" my "cigarette" while I added and multiplied fractions, pretending I was on some kind of literary debate show. I came to realize, however, that the more I puffed on my cigarette, the more the paper surrounding the chocolate became moist and decomposed into my mouth. My sour powder candy-filled "lighter" couldn't do anything to help out, and I gradually quit "smoking".

I guess the same kind of thing happened with rolling my crêpes into cigars. Now, I like them as flat as possible to get as many bites as possible out of them, but at home I still roll them up for the sake of nostalgia. 

 

Fig jam and crêpes, a winning combination

I happily discovered I'm far from being alone in my love of crêpes and their infinite topping possibilities, so my friend Claire invited me over for Chandeleur dinner. Dulce de leche, homemade fig jam, sugar, and chocolate were all in attendance. The recipe for crêpes is simple, and for those watching their weight, nearly fat-free. Basically, that means you can pile up all the toppings you want without feeling guilty in the least.

 

 

Yummy honey from the Vosges mountains

My advice? Go for a simple combination of sugar and melted salted butter on your crêpe. Then you can go ahead and roll it, fold it, or rub it in your face. Either way, it'll be good.

Pâte à crêpes

makes 500g (enough for a dozen crêpes, approximately)

2 eggs
1/3 oz. butter (10g)
3.5 oz. flour (100g)
1/2 scraped vanilla pod
1/2TS fine salt

8.5 oz. (1 cup) milk (25cl)
2TB water

Beat eggs in a small bowl. In a saucepan, melt butter. 

In a large bowl, mix flour, vanilla, eggs and salt. Add milk and water, and mix. Add melted butter and incorporate well.

Let batter rest for at least 2 hours prior to using. Right before making the crêpes, add a scant tablespoon water to the batter.

Heat a non-stick pan or special crêpe skillet over medium-high heat. Moisten a paper towel with a neutral oil, and rub across skillet. Ladle batter into pan, trying to keep it thin. When the bottom side becomes golden, flip over and cook until both sides are similar in color. 

Top it while it's hot!