70s Inspired Retro Recipes: Crêpes Suzette

Back in the 1970s one of the desserts of choice to not only wow your guests but also tasted delicious was Crêpes Suzette. Usually flambéd this dessert always caused a stir a dinner parties. But not everyone has time to whip out a flambé dish at the dinner table so our version is not only a non-flambé recipe so you can cook it with minimal fuss but also using Cointreau instead of the traditional Grand Marnier, just to give it that extra citrus kick!

INGREDIENTS

For The Crêpes

  • 140g plain flour
  • 300ml milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 25g unsalted butter – melted (plus an extra 5g melted butter for greasing)
  • Pinch of salt

For The Suzette Sauce

  • 3 tablespoons caster sugar
  • Juice of 3 large oranges
  • Peeled segments of 1 orange
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 30ml Cointreau
  • 50g unsalted butter

METHOD

  1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and mix well. Add a well in the middle of the flour/salt mix and crack in 2 eggs. Start to mix gently and as you do slowly pour in the milk. Don’t worry if you form lumps, the lumps will be whisked out, just keep whisking and get stronger with your whisking as you go.
  2. Whisk until the batter is smooth and all the flour has been incorporated. Once everything is whisked well and smooth add the melted butter and mix again.
  3. Heat a large frying pan and add the 5g of melted butter to grease the pan. Using a ladle, pour approximately 3 tablespoons of pancake mix into the pan and then gently swirl the pan around so the bottom of the pan is coated with a thin layer of batter. Cook the pancake for 45 seconds – 1 minute on one side, then flip over using a fish slice and then cook the other side. Cook both sides until they are freckled with golden spots.
  4. Slide the pancake out of the pan and onto a plate and then fold into quarters. Repeat until all pancake mix has been cooked into pancakes.
  5. Once you have finished cooking the pancakes, into the same frying pan add the caster sugar and heat on a low heat. Let the sugar melt without stirring and continue to allow it to melt until it becomes a dark amber caramel colour. Do not allow it to burn.
  6. As soon as the dark amber colour is achieved, take the pan off the heat straight away and add the orange juice. The pan will fizz and splatter so be very careful when doing this. As soon as the orange juice is in, then add the orange segments, lemon juice, orange zest and the Cointreau. Once everything is in, add the pan back to a low heat to melt the sugar again back to a flowing liquid.
  7. Add the butter and stir gently until it melts and then bring the sauce up to the boil and simmer until the sauce reduces a little and becomes glossy.
  8. Add the pancakes to the pan and coat in the sauce. Serve immediately. Add a scoop of clotted cream ice cream as a delicious addition!