If you have any number of young boys living along side you in your home, then you’ll understand the nightmare that is the bathroom. I swear, I would hire a housekeeper for that task alone if I could. No price would be too big. She would be my hero. You think I’m joking. Allow me to share the most recent experience with you.
Imagine yourself meandering into your children’s bathroom and finding not only the seat but the cover of the abode “a little less” than clean. Ok, a lot less. You stand there for a minute, pondering to yourself how the heck two boys who are supposedly standing in the act can get a part of the potty so doggone dirty when it isn’t even visible to them. With no possible explanations entering your mind, you decide to head to straight to the source. You track down your kin, line them up in the bathroom and proceed with the interrogation.
Me: Ok, boys. Take a look at the seat and the cover of your potty. What do you see?
Nick and Alex: Ewwww.
Me: Yes, ewwww would be a good word for it. My question for you both is – considering you should be putting the cover and seat up when you do your business, how on earth did they get so icky??
Nick: That’s easy mom. We simply aim for the wall and ricochet it onto the back cover of the seat.
Oh yes, you heard the statement correctly; he “ricochets” with pin point precision. To add to the fun, my third boy is potty training as we speak and will soon be entering the ranks of the boomerrang elite. If anyone knows of a good housekeeper, please send her my way. The sooner the better.
Thank goodness I have a delicious dessert on hand to take my mind off the imposing chaos that is the boy’s bathroom. We began crepe week with savory fare and we’ll finish it with a sweet bite of spring time delight. This crepe does contain a few different components, but all of them can be made ahead of time making the actual moment of serving a breeze. And honestly, the flavors in this meal time finisher rock my world. One bite and you’ll be prepared to tackle anything. Well, almost anything.
You’ll begin the process by cooking up a batch of flavorful crepes. The process is the same as the savory crepes we made earlier in the week with the exception of the ingredient list. Simply swirl all the flavors in a blender, let it rest covered in the fridge, and cook up in a crepe pan when you’re ready to start swirling batter. Feel free to click the link above for more detailed pictures and a video of the process if needed.
Next, we’ll move on to the filling and the compote.
Grab a small saucepan and add in a pour of water, a handful of both chopped strawberries and rhubarb and some sugar. I initially gave my rhubarb a running start which is why it looks a bit cooked already.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn down to a simmer, cover and let cook for about 5-7 minutes. Once the fruit is softened and incorporated, remove it from the heat and emulsify the mixture. Drop in a few mint leaves and let it sit for about 5 minutes more to absorb the flavor. You can push it into the wall of the saucepan with a spoon if desired to “bruise” the mint and get more flavor out.
Finally, remove the mint, add in a splash of vanilla, reserve one cup of the compote and place the rest in a covered container in the fridge to cool completely.
Now we’ll make a custard to go inside the cooked up crepes. To do this you’ll whisk together a couple egg yolks, some sugar and a pad of butter into the reserved compote. Place the mixture in a double boiler and let cook until thickened, stirring often.
Fridge the custard until completely chilled. To cap off the deliciousness, we’ll whip up a quick and dirty cream. Whisk together some heavy cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Add a scoop of the fresh cream to your cooled custard and reserve the rest for plating.
To assemble your masterpiece, simply ladle a healthy spoonful of the custard down the center of the crepe, fold it into the desired shape, drizzle with a bit of the remaining compote and drop a dessert-worthy dollop of fresh cream on the side. Garnish with a mint leaf if desired.
The first bites of spring never tasted quite so delectable.
Lemon Cardamom Crepes with Strawberry Rhubarb Custard
Yield: 8 Custard Filled Crepes
Total Time: 3 hours
While this recipe does involve multiple steps, all components can be made ahead of time making this a great dessert for company!
Ingredients:
For the Crepes:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Cardamom
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Cup Buttermilk
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Lemon Zest
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1/3 Cup Water
For the Compote:
2 Cups Rhubarb, Chopped
1 Cup Strawberries, Sliced
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Sugar
3-4 Twigs Fresh Mint
1 tsp Vanilla
For the Custard:
1 Cup Finished Compote
4 Egg Yolks
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Butter
3/4 Cup Whipped Cream (See Recipe Below)
For the Whipped Cream:
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
Directions:
To make the crepes, place all the ingredients into a blender and mix well.
Let rest in the fridge, covered, for at least two hours.
Grab up your crepe pan and heat it on medium heat.
Add a sliver of butter into the pan.
For a 9" crepe pan, grab up a 1/3 cup and fill to about 1/4" below the top.
Lift your crepe pan off the heat and pour the batter in. Making a circular motion with the pan, cover with the batter completely.
Place it back on the heat and let cook for about a minute until no more liquid remains.
Flip the crepe using your fingers, a spatula or whatever works best for you. Cook for about 15 more seconds and remove to cool.
To make the compote, add the rhubarb, strawberries, water and sugar to a small sauce pan.
Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes or until the fruit begins to break down.
Remove from heat and emulsify until smooth.
Submerge the mint leaves in the hot mixture and let sit for about 5 minutes. You can push the mint leaves around a bit if desired to release more of the mint flavor.
Remove the mint leaves, add in the vanilla and chill in the fridge.
For the custard you'll mix together a cup of the finished compote, the egg yolks, sugar and butter.
Using a double boiler, heat the mixture up, stirring frequently, until it begins to thicken (this will happen at around 165 degrees if you feel more comfortable watching the temp).
Remove from the heat and chill completely in the fridge.
For the last piece you'll whip up a quick batch of whipped cream by adding the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla to a mixer and running on high until stiff peaks form.
Fold 3/4 cup of the whipped cream into the cooled custard.
Line a crepe down the center with a couple spoonfuls of the custard. Roll it closed, top with the compote and serve with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and a mint leaf for garnish.
Comments
Trackbacks
-
[…] up as I sat eyeballing a pile of rhubarb that was leftover from an earlier attempt at making dessert crepes. My original thought was a rhubarb souffle, but I’ve heard that they are notoriously picky […]
Leave a Reply to Katerina Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
What a fantastic flavor combination and beautiful crepes! I’ll have several, please. I love crepes, but have never tried making them myself…thank you for the inspiration and sharing your recipe and method. 🙂
ha..ha..I don’t allow my daughter to use the children’s bathroom for the same…my son simply aims for the wall…and very true that no price would be big to keep their bathroom clean 🙂
The crepes with the sauce looks like a perfect way to start my day, very colorful indeed.
Julie this is so tempting! It’s a wonderful spring dessert. My youngest daughter just learned to make crepes all by herself this past Tuesday, she will love this version. By the way I made your churros recipe again, I love it! Have an awesome weekend 🙂
love the potty story and even at 19 and 17 their aim doesn’t get a whole lot better, I blame it on texting ! great recipe, anne
Yes, I truly feel for you… I think I boys are ridiculously disgusting and they think its hysterical! Never has my bathroom been dirtier than after my son has used it.
The crepes have been great this week. My daughter wants to know when we are making them here! Thanks for all the great ideas!
I love the flavors and it looks so delicious! Have a great weekend!
That custard should taste really good 🙂
That looks delicious! Though, I admit, I’m having a bit of trouble separating the potty story from the food post. I’ll be having 3 boys in the house sometime this year…I’m really hoping for better results. Ricocheting would explain a lot. I’ve never figured out how boys get everything so gross! I’ve told my oldest if in our new house he has his own bathroom – the cleaning bit is ALL up to him!
I love crepes and your look really tempting. the joys of raising boys; I had 4 and you have to be and mot one of them was trained before 3….
Rita
Yum! I think I might have to have some of these during your visit to Seattle. They have all my favorite flavors, especially cardamom!
P.S. Have you tried Cheerios? They’re great for target practice (-;
Oh. My. Ricochet? For real?
God knew what he was doing when he gave me a girl. And the best housekeeper in the world. If you lived closer I’d trade you my housekeeper for the crepes! 🙂
Have a fabulous weekend…
I had the same problem with the bathroom, but I taught him that when he is at home he can sit and not stand! Outside of home he follows the classic stand up position but at home he sits and so this saved me from a lot of cleaning believe me! The crepes look very tasty and right to the spring spirit Julie!
The crepes look great. And I love the story of the ricochet! Teenage girls have their own issues: piles of clothes everywhere, and hairbrushes all over the house except in my bathroom!
Ha! Your bathroom story made me laugh as we are expecting our first little boy in June. 🙂 Oh and these crepes?!?! They look insanely delightful! I adore the strawberry and rhubard combo. Thanks for sharing!
Ha! the problem of our lives, and it never ends 😀
But I bet those crepes put you in ease. Delicious!
hilarious! i wonder if the men in my life ever tried the ricochet technique. 🙂
great sauce on your crepes, julie!
So I don’t have boys getting the bathroom crazy dirty, but I still see how these crepes could help me tackle the house cleaning that’s on my agenda for tomorrow evening. Talk about a heavenly dessert!
So funny, I never heard of aiming by ricocheting….and I just can tell you that for sure I do not want to share bathroom with your boys 🙂
Now, the crepes look delicious, strawberry, lemon cardamom…superb!
Hope you have a great week and good luck with the boys Julie 😉
I’m so lucky I don’t have boys then. I’m potty training Tiffany and it seems it takes like forever. the more I expect from her the more change I have to wash and floors to polish.
I love having crepes for breakfast. and the berry sauce, yum!
That is so hilarious. Your boys are really very creative…messy, but creative.
Love the crepes, they sound delicious