Having some overnight guests for New Years? Here’s one of my favorite easy-yet-elegant breakfasts: crepes. The batter and filling (and even the crepes themselves) can be made in advance, and they can be dressed up in any number of ways. You can easily offer several options of filling to please different tastes.
Don’t think you’ll be up to frying crepes first thing New Years Day? They keep well—just fry them in advance, pop the whole stack into a ziplock bag, and refrigerate up to a couple of days. Reheat for about thirty seconds on each side in a hot skillet or a few seconds (no more than ten on high) in the microwave.
The trickiest part about crepes is getting the skillet temperature just right. Too hot, and they will have a coarse, pebbly texture; not hot enough, and they will not be as tender and flexible as they should be. It usually takes me a few crepes to get it just right, but you know what? The ‘duds’ are still tasty—just eat the evidence.
It’s even easier to make up a filling in advance—then, you need only assemble the crepes the morning you plan to serve them. The fillings I use most often are cream cheese, ricotta cheese or cottage cheese, depending on what I have to work with. The cream cheese goes especially well with stronger flavors, such as apple or pumpkin butter, while the ricotta is good with delicate flavors such as pear.
The filling can really be anything that you want it to—whipped cream and a pile of fresh fruit work well, too.
A Month of Sundries 