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These strawberry crêpes are made with sweet French pancakes, an easy mascarpone whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. Serve them for breakfast or dessert!
I intended to share these fun strawberry crêpes as a celebration of spring.
They’re fun, fancy(ish), and basically one of my favorite foods on the planet.
Then, life got weird, and fast. We’re all stuck inside, and things seemed a little too serious for something as frivolous as crêpes.
But today, as I sat at my computer and looked over my spring recipes, I decided that actually, what we all need is a little (a lot) more joy in our lives.
And strawberry crêpes make me happy.
Just think about it. No matter what is going on in your life, if someone hands you a plate overflowing with strawberry crêpes, it’s going to make you smile. Right?
I hope that these easy French pancakes bring a smile to your day too.
How to Make Crêpes Using Only What’s In Your Pantry
To make French crêpes, you’ll need flour, milk, eggs, salt, butter, and sugar.
If you don’t eat gluten, you can substitute the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free all-purpose (such as Cup 4 Cup). The liquid measurements will be slightly different though, so follow the directions in my gluten-free crêpes recipe.
If you’re out of (or don’t use) dairy milk, it’s perfectly fine to swap dairy milk for non-dairy milk. I especially like these with coconut milk.
Out of eggs? Try using aquafaba (the liquid inside a can of chickpeas) to make these vegan crêpes instead.
And while I do not recommend using oil instead of butter, vegan butter will work perfectly here.
What Do I Need for the Strawberry Cream Filling?
For the cream filling, you’ll need heavy whipping cream, mascarpone, and powdered sugar. I also like to add a little liqueur, but that’s totally optional.
Are you out of whipping cream? Half a can of chilled, full-fat coconut cream will whip up just as nicely.
I love these crêpes with mascarpone, but it can be hard to find. Where I live, Kroger carries it and Walmart doesn’t.
You can use regular cream cheese or ricotta instead of mascarpone. If you don’t have either cheese, but you do have whole milk and a lemon, you can make your own homemade ricotta.
And finally, of course ideally you’ll top these strawberry crêpes with fresh strawberries. If you can’t find strawberries (or your husband polished off the last berry and you didn’t realize it), go ahead and swap the fresh berries for strawberry jam or a different fresh berry.
Do I Need a Crêpe Pan?
Nope!
Any well-seasoned cast-iron pan will work. A non-stick omelette pan will also work well.
If you decide to make crêpes often, I recommend this Lodge crêpe pan.
How to Make Crêpes
Start by mixing together the crêpe batter, and then let it rest in the fridge for about an hour. If you want, you can set the batter in the fridge the night before and it’ll be ready when you wake up!
If you decide to go rogue and skip the hour batter-rest, your crepes will still be perfectly delicious–they’ll just have more bubbles (a.k.a holes).
When you’re ready, heat butter in a pan. Hold the pan off-heat, pour in a little batter, and swirl the batter across the pan.
How much batter you use will depend on the size of your pan.
Set the pan back down on the heat, and cook until the edges of the crêpe begin to pull away from the side of the pan.
Flip the crêpe, and cook it for a few more seconds.
Set the crêpe on a cooling rack, and repeat until the batter is gone.
Next, add the whipping cream, mascarpone, and powdered sugar to a chilled glass bowl. Add a little Grand Marnier if you have some on hand.
Use an electric mixer on high until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Feel free to lick the beaters afterwards.
When you’re ready to serve your fancy-shmancy breakfast, you can either assemble everything ahead of time or set out the crêpes, cream, and berries for everyone to fill their own crêpes.
To assemble a strawberry crêpe, simply smear a little cream on 1/4 of a crêpe, and top it with a few strawberry slices.
Next, fold your crêpe in half, and add a little more cream.
Fold it in half again.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, you can roll these instead of folding them. I prefer to fold them. If you prefer to roll them, go for it. You do you.
Whichever way you put them together, make sure to top the crêpe with a little more cream and more strawberries before digging in.
Take a bite, and let the strawberry crêpes bring a big smile to your face.
Strawberry Crêpes
Yes
2 Days (Fridge), 4 Months (Freezer)
Ingredients
Crêpes:
- 1 cup flour See Recipe Notes for Gluten-Free Options
- 2/3 cup cold milk
- 2/3 cup cold water
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 TB melted butter, plus more butter or oil for brushing hot pan
- 2 tsp sugar
Mascarpone Whipped Cream:
- 8 oz mascarpone, room temperature OR substitute ricotta or cream cheese
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 oz Grand Marnier (optional) Or substitute another citrus or floral liqueur (such as St-Germain)
Fillings + Toppings:
- 1 quart strawberries, sliced
- honey (optional)
Instructions
Crêpes:
- Whisk together all crêpe ingredients in a bowl.
- Let batter sit in the refrigerator at least 1 hour (or overnight).
- Pre-heat non-stick pan on high heat, and brush or spray with oil or butter. Oil should shimmer on the pan.
- Holding pan just off heat, add 2-3 TB batter and swirl to coat pan. Place back on heat and cook for about 90 seconds, until the bottom of the crêpe is golden and slides off the pan easily.
- Flip and cook the other side for 5-10 seconds. Move crêpe to a wire rack or plate to cool, and repeat with remaining batter.
- Make Crêpes Ahead: Stack with wax paper in between crêpes. Refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 3-4 months in an airtight container. Don't skip the wax paper– the crêpes will stick together.
Mascarpone Whipped Cream:
- Chill a glass (Pyrex) bowl in the freezer until it’s cold to the touch.
- Remove it from the freezer, add the mascarpone, whipping cream, sugar, and Grand Marnier (if using). Use an electric mixer to whip on high until it's smooth and creamy. Chill until you're ready to use.
- Make mascarpone whipped cream up to 1 day before serving.
Assemble Crêpes:
- Spread mascarpone cream on 1/4 of each crêpe. Add a few strawberry slices to the cream. Fold the crêpe in half, covering the cream.
- Add more cream to half of the folded crêpe, and then fold in half again.
- Serve the crêpes with remaining cream, more sliced strawberries, and honey.
- Serve immediately.
These look wonderful! I love the whipped cream with mascarpone – it’s such an underused ingredient! Three cheers for strawberries being back in season!
Aw thank you!! I hope you enjoy! 💕💕