Amazing Crepes!

So I used to love crepes.  My father had an old-fashioned crepe pan (the kind you don't see anymore, that look like an inverted frying pan with holes alone the side).  Every Sunday morning, he would make crepes for his two sets of twins and our lovely mother. (Yes, two sets of twins...we had a loud house growing up!).  He would lightly butter the pan and pour on a thin layer of the most amazing crepe made of butter, eggs and flour, and fill it with whatever homemade filling he decided to whip up.  The "safe" filling was applesauce mixed with cinnamon, but often it was an interesting concoction of warm banana, apple, and fresh ginger or other unique combination of berries, guava jam and spices.  All four children would fight over the leftover plain crepes, and I still have photos of us wearing crepe masks (we would eat out eye holes and a mouth hole and run around the house like the crazy little kids we were).

A childhood friend's mother also made crepes whenever my sister and I would spend the night, and hers were an even fluffier, powdered sugar and cinnamon-sugar infused version of my dads'.  We would slather the fluffy German pancake-esque crepes with additional butter and sprinkle on mounds of cinnamon and crunchy sugar, and I can still taste that almost sickeningly sweet and gritty yet delicately soft breakfast treat.

Weekends still feel like they should involve crepes and the Sunday comics, and I am pleased to announce I have developed a pretty delicious imitation of the more decadent crepes of my childhood.

Amazing Crepes

Ingredients:

3/4 of a banana, mashed
3 egg whites or 1 whole egg and 1 egg white
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
optional: 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds or psyllium husks for additional texture

Directions:

1.  Whisk ingredients together well, making sure the banana is fully mashed.
2.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes spread out thinly on a silpat or other nonstick mat, or alternately grease a pan with coconut oil and cook in a pan on a stove, carefully flipping with a spatula to cook both sides through.
3.  Roll up and serve plain, or with unsweetened applesauce or berries of your choice.

Other yum variation:  whip in a little plain sunflower seed butter for additional protein boost.
Holiday edition: add additional sprinkling of nutmeg and ginger and 2 to 3 tablespoons pumpkin puree.