Crepes great for holiday breakfast
By Elaine Magee
Q. I'm looking for a fun dish to serve for breakfast on New Year's Day while my kids are home with us. Not eggs, not coffeecake — something different. Can you help?
A. How about a breakfast crepe? I was responsible for making breakfast for 12 people on a family vacation last summer, so I made 24 crepes the night before and had everything ready to go with it.
In the morning, I just assembled them. I decided to give people the option of a chocolate raspberry crepe and/or a savory crepe. (For the savory crepe, I warmed a crepe in a nonstick frying pan and topped it with grated cheese and lean ham, chopped tomatoes and green onions.)
I'm sharing my recipe for the chocolate raspberry crepes with you.
This is a light crepe recipe from my book, "The Change of Life Diet and Cookbook," with half whole wheat flour. You can either buy the chocolate whipped cream in a pressurized can, or you can stir some cocoa into Light Cool Whip or light whipping cream. No worries about the raspberries not being in season; frozen berries, just barely thawed, work very well too.
If you want to use boysenberries, blackberries, mixed berries or strawberry slices, go right ahead. I suspect they would all taste great. If you want to whip up some light whipping cream instead of using Light Cool Whip, just add unsweetened cocoa and sugar (tablespoon by tablespoon) to the whipped cream until you get the flavor you want (this will be higher in calories and fat compared to this analysis, though).
CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CREPES
Crepes:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup egg substitute
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup unbleached white flour or cake flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups low-fat milk
Filling:
8 ounce container Light Cool Whip
4 tablespoons cocoa
About 3 or 4 cups of fresh raspberries (if using frozen, thaw until raspberries are very cold and just barely thawed)
Add all the crepe ingredients (eggs, egg substitute, canola oil, flours, salt, vanilla and milk) to a blender and pulse until batter is nice and smooth. Scrape down sides of blender with spatula and briefly blend.
Heat a nonstick 10-inch frying pan over medium heat. Coat bottom lightly with canola cooking spray and pour 1/4 cup of batter in the pan. Tilt pan to coat bottom completely with batter. It should be in a shape of a circle.
Cook about 1 minute per side or until golden brown. Remove crepe to serving plate and repeat with remaining batter.
To make chocolate Cool Whip, add the cocoa to the Cool Whip tub and mix well with a fork or whisk. You can do this step with your electric mixer too if you prefer. Remember that Cool Whip is already sweetened, which is why you only need to add unsweetened cocoa to make it taste terrific.
To assemble crepes, add about ¡ cup of the raspberries down the center of each crepe and top with a spoonful of the chocolate Cool Whip. Roll up crepe around the filling.
Makes about 10-12 crepes.
• Per serving (12 crepes per recipe): 145 calories, 5.5 g protein, 16 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat (2.7 g saturated fat, 1.2 g monounsaturated fat, 0.7 g polyunsaturated fat), 37 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 130 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 31 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids 0.3 g. Omega-6 fatty acids 0.4 g, Weight Watchers POINTS 3.
Elaine Magee's new book, "The Change of Life Diet and Cookbook," is in bookstores. Reach her through www.recipedoctor.com. Personal responses cannot be provided. This column is distributed by the Knight Ridder News Service.
