Happy Chandeleur Day!

Today is the Chandeleur, aka the crêpes holiday, which means that I will be stuffing myself with sweet crêpes - and I invite you to do the same - all with the same excuse: La fête de la Chandeleur. The origins and the pagan (then Christian) meaning of this holiday are lost in the misty darkness of the past, but the name suggests candles so just take your beautiful darling, light some candles on the table and prepare for a gustatory bliss.

These thin, light and flavored pancakes, that only the French know how to make properly, are one of my favorite desserts ever and can be filled with whatever fancies the happy owner: the sweeter the better (I actually like them even better without filling, but don't listen to me, I'm weird!).

Here's the crêpe recipe:


Of course, there is an one and only right way to make French crêpes, you've seen that remark coming, right? First of all, you'll have to prepare the batter in advance to let it rest so the flavors have enough time to know each other and become best friends. Then you should cook your crêpes in a well heated pancake pan, oiled with butter and butter only. One of my friends had to insist on the fact that the pan should never be oiled with anything other than butter or the taste will alter in some vulgar, totally un-French way and there is a high risk that the crêpes will become elastic, something like a chewing gum. And you don't want this to happen! I never dared to try it with rough oil so I cannot confirm it, but if you do, please let me know what was the result in the comments below (and please post it anonymous or else there surely will be a crêpes extremist lurking around who will track you then hunt you down for breaking the crêpes etiquette)

Ingredients (makes about 20 crêpes):
- 3 eggs
- 1/2l milk
- 40g salted butter (or unsalted plus a pinch of salt), melted
- a few tbsp. of rum, to taste (don't skip it under any circumstances: the alcohol will evaporate when cooked, so it's perfectly safe for children, and you'll be left with the great flavor instead)
- 250g sifted flour

Mix everything and let it rest, ideally a couple of hours (at least!). Cook on both sides in a well heated and butter-oiled pancake pan (don't worry, the pancake flipping will get better with time! I'm speaking from experience here...). Form a nice tower with the resulting sweet, thin disks.

Take the crêpe on top of the pancake Pisa tower, spread on it whatever jam, honey, melted chocolate or sweet divine cream you keep dreaming of but you were banned from consuming, fold in half, then in quarter, sift a sweet cloud of icing sugar on top, then dive! Don't forget to thank whatever divinity you may happen to believe in for the privilege you just had and only then and then only you will be allowed to serve another crêpe.

Bon appétit !