Is that Lilo eating a Peanut Butter Bad Girl Bar??

Well, okay, so Luscious even turns breakfast into dessert. We know we have problem.  We should probably do something about the sugar addiction, but we’ve decided to wait for someone to pull an intervention on us. Maybe we’ll finally get to be on a reality show that way. Omigosh, we hope Lindsay Lohan is on the same episode!! Seems pretty likely…

While you wait for us to enter rehab, make these lovely crepes. These would be so nice for a leisurely family weekend breakfast with a fruit plate, or you could double the recipe and take a whole dish of crepes to a brunch potluck. Plus you can do some prep the night before).

And yes, okay, they would make a really elegant dessert: splash a little orange liqueur over them at the end and flame ‘em up: FANCY! Just be sure to use a long-handled match, not the regular ol’ bic lighter you usually use to light your Virginia Slims. Somebody at Luscious learned that one the hard way.

Crepes with Sweet Ricotta Filling and Orange Ginger Syrup
(makes eight 6” inch filled crepes)

For the Crepes
2 eggs (eggs are a major ingredient here, use the freshest eggs you can, even if you must resort to stealing from the neighbor’s chicken coop. Most urban chicken farmers don’t own shotguns, so we think you’ll be safe if you live in Austin or Portland.)

2 tablespoons melted butter, plus more butter for cooking the crepes
½ cup flour
½ cup milk
¼ cup slightly warm orange juice, water, or low fat milk
1 tablespoon orange zest

Put all ingredients in a blender, and mix until smooth. Put the blender pitcher of crepe batter in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the batter can rest and the gluten can do it’s thing with the liquids. You can also make the batter the night before.

For the syrup:
¾ cup fresh orange juice
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup orange liqueur (we like Paula’s Texas Orange)
½” piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped or grated

Stir together all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Cook  and stir until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to medium and allow syrup to simmer so that it reduces slightly. Keep warm until ready to serve. Or make ahead and refrigerate, then warm over the stove or in microwave when ready to serve.

ricotta cheese with orange zest

For the filling:
15 oz package of ricotta cheese
½ cup sugar
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 tsp orange zest

Mix together all filling ingredients.  Keep refrigerated if not serving crepes immediately, can be made ahead the day before.

Pour crepe batter directly from the blender.

Time to make the crepes! One supposes the proper equipment for this is a crepe pan, because we all have one those, right? Luscious like to use a small non-stick pan, even knowing that it makes French people made at us. We’ve heard that Teflon is a carcinogen, so we don’t recommend eating the pan. Using medium heat, melt enough butter in the pan to coat. Keep the butter on hand to re-oil the pan as need. Pour a small amount of batter into the pan, tilting the pan to coat. The crepe should be very thin, a bit thinner than the average thin corn tortilla. (You can make thicker crepes, but then you run out of crepe batter really fast.)  After the top starts to bubble and the crepe seems set on the bottom, flip using a broad spatula and your fingers. Cook the 2^nd side for a few seconds, then place on a sheet of wax paper on a plate. Keep crepes warm in the oven between pieces of wax paper until ready to assemble and serve.

What’s French for damn good?

To assemble crepes, put 3 or 4 tablespoons of filling down the center of a crepe and fold in the sides enchilada-style. Spoon warm syrup over crepes and garnish with thin orange slices. Hello breakfast!