Friday, February 10, 2012

French Fridays with Dorie: Orange-Cranberry Crepes with Nutella Drizzle

I know, I've gone astray again. This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe is supposed to be Nutella Tartine...a fancy French open-faced sandwich topped with spreadable ingredients. Dorie borrows Pierre Herme's chic rendition of the after-school treat pain au chocolat - a slice of buttered and lightly toasted Brioche or challah, spread with bitter orange marmalade, generously drizzled with warm Nutella, and finished with a pinch of fleur de sel and chopped hazelnuts. Sounds amazing as is, but I just couldn't leave it alone.

My brain was churning with ideas on how to create my own chic version, without turning it into a several hour project. I contemplated using a Liege waffle as the base...or a piece of French Toast...or a crepe. Yes, a crepe!


This is probably the second jar of Nutella I've purchased in my entire life, and I don't even recall the reason I needed the first. I think John likes it. After a couple of these crepes, I think I love it.


In place of bitter orange marmalade, which I've never seen in a store, I chose Stonewall Kitchen's Orange Cranberry Marmalade. I figured the tartness of the cranberries would do the trick. I had a container of hazelnuts still hanging around from Thanksgiving, but had to refresh my recollection on the best way to toast and remove the skins. The preferred method seems to be a quick blanch in boiling water, followed by an ice water plunge, and then a vigorous toweling dry in a kitchen towel, thereby removing the skins. Worked like a charm, and then I lightly toasted them in a dry skillet.



For the crepes, I followed Alton Brown's video and recipe exactly (5 stars based on almost 200 reviews), including throwing the first screwed up crepe to the dog. Oh, and there was also a blender disaster. Apparently, I didn't properly screw the blade and bottom parts back on after washing. After measuring my eggs, flour, milk, water, and melted butter into the blender jar, I lifted the jar off the counter to set in into the base, the pieces came off, and everything poured out the bottom. Nice. All over the counter, underneath everything on the counter, down the cabinets, and all over the floor. Good thing Dooley wasn't under my feet in his usual fashion. Other than that drama, the crepes turned out marvelous.


After messing around making crepes, and photographing before and after hazelnuts for an hour, this actually did turn into a several hour project and ended being dinner. Works for me.  If you're interested in trying this with brioche rather than crepes, Dorie posted the recipe on her site, here.


French Fridays with Dorie is an online cooking group, dedicated to Dorie Greenspan‘s book Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. As members of the group, we have purchased the cookbook and cook along as much as we can. There is a new recipe each week, and we post about that recipe on Friday. We are asked to refrain from posting the actual recipes on our blog. The book is filled with stunning photography, and personal stories about each recipe, which makes it that much more intriguing. I highly recommend adding it to your cookbook collection if you haven't already!

13 comments:

Cher Rockwell said...

Crepes. Wow. You get the gold star for today!

Unknown said...

Extremely pretty, love all the photos, wish I had this for breakfast! I'm still struggling with my decision to start the new Baking with Julia group, I need all those baked goods in my house only for my grandchildren visits certainly not for myself or my husband;-)

Ei said...

I've always been intimidated by the thought of making crepes. They seem so fragile. I sure love to eat them, though, and this looks delicious!

Unknown said...

Love nutella crepes! I had my own share of disasters for what should have been a simple recipe! I also follow Alton's advice and always toss the first crepe. Your photos are beautiful!

SoupAddict Karen said...

Those crepes are just gorgeous. Almost too pretty to eat. (But I still would :) )

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Mmmm, nutella crepes. You went above and beyond! :)

Nana said...

Absolutely elegant. I love orange cranberry marmalade,
it has such a wonderful flavor. When I was growing up back in the day, my mother always made crepes for
Sunday night supper and we had them with jam or
sugar. I have never tried making them myself, but
it's not too late, I may try it someday.

Adriana said...

The crepes look awesome! I am a big fan of Stonewall Kitchen's spreads, so I can imagine that was fantastic with the Nutella. Crepes for dinner work for me... crepes anytime work for me!

Dessert By Candy said...

Absolutely perfect looking crepe. Who would have thought there was a blender accident behind all those gorgeous and mouthwatering photos! Love the rosy colour the cranberries lend to the marmalade too.

Christy said...

Terrific looking crepes, nice adaptation of the recipe!

tricia s. said...

Like all other tasks we tackle in life...it always takes longer than planned :) But your results (and your resolve- following the blender disaster) are worth it. Gorgeous photos of an amazing combo. I am feeling truly lazy that I opened the bag of hazelnuts from the store and simply browned them. Needless to say, far less pretty than yours. And I am totally hiding your blog from my family - they adore crepes but I have not tried them at home. Your blog and Alton link has inspired me. Also love the idea of waffles- genius as I have about 3 different lovely waffle irons. All far too untouched :)

Betsy said...

Your version sounds like something I'd like. I went with the toast, and nutella is just too much like peanut butter for someone who dislikes peanut butter on bread. Crepes, now that's another story. I have plenty of (homemade) nutella left, so I might give this a try.

Mary Hirsch said...

Terrific. I am on the Crepe Bandwagon the next time I open my Nutella jar. Loved the picture. And, i suspect it tasted as good as it looked. Good idea. Thanks.