Globe-cooking recipe : Breton Crêpes Complètes (France)

Just before we came home from visiting the in laws in Brittany at Christmas, I decided to pick up a pack of Breton crêpes in the supermarket. Now, I know pancakes are easy enough to make, but you will never get crêpes this thin and delicate if you try making your own. They make them on a big round flat cooking surface with a wooden scraper that leaves the thinnest layer of batter possible - they are so thin that they are called lace crêpes.

You can put whatever you like in crêpes - in crêperies, you can get everything from the simple ham and cheese to the gourmet scallops and leeks in cream with everything in between - but the most popular and common combination is the "complète" - ham, cheese and a fried egg - so that is what I decided to recreate. I decided to cook the eggs in advance because I was worried about not being able to tell when they were cooked otherwise.

I sprayed the frying pan with cooking spray, laid out the crêpe, slapped on a slice of ham, sprinkled over some cheese, put an egg on top then folded over all four sides. Perfectly edible but a bit dry.

For the next lot, I decided to bite the bullet and crack the egg straight into the crêpe. This meant that I needed to flip them over to complete the cooking process, which I did using a plate and a spatula.

This resulted in a much tastier, more moist crêpe but you do have to be OK with eating slightly runny eggs.

The kids finished off with Nutella or Nutella and banana filled crêpes and I went for a traditional sugar and lemon juice combo.

You may remember that we visited a crêperie in Brittany last summer and these homemade offerings compared quite favourably, even if you don't get the huge choice of fillings that you would in a restaurant. It was a great way of bringing a taste of Brittany home with us.

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