In the Brittany area of France, buckwheat gives the traditional galette or crepe its toasty brown color. We’ve added cocoa to our buckwheat crepe recipe. It’s the kind of dessert (or dessert for breakfast) that gets
us excited to rise and shine!
Crepes might, at first, seem hard to make. But the trick is in the wrist—pull the small skillet off the heat and pour the batter into the skillet at an angle. Then, rotate the pan, turning and coating the bottom of the pan in circular movements until the batter stops moving. At this point is when you set the skillet back on the heat and cook for about a minute and a half, or until a flexible spatula can lift the edges easily. To make the crepes, we use an anodized pan, but if you have a crepe pan, use that. You’ll just glaze the bottom of it with enough butter to coat and then get busy cooking.
Since the buckwheat crepes recipe doesn’t include any flour with wheat in it, these crepes are naturally gluten-free. Buckwheat also isn’t a great binder, so make sure to plan ahead for this buckwheat crepe recipe since the batter needs to cure. You want the ingredients to meld in the refrigerator, chilling for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
While the crepes are great on their own, if you want a fancier showstopper dessert, make our Mille-Crepes Cake with Fig Hazelnut Ganache. It’s an easy crepe cake recipe that’s most tricky aspect is patience—time to cook all of the crepes and then chilling time for the cake to set. This gluten-free dessert is welcome at any celebration and will appeal to many kinds of eaters.
Garnish the crepes with a dollop of fresh cream whipped to soft peaks with a smattering of roughly chopped hazelnuts and chopped mission figs, or fill with the ganache and feast!
Buckwheat Crepes Recipe with Fig Hazelnut Ganache
Ingredients
Cocoa Buckwheat Crepes
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 cups buckwheat flour
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 3 eggs large
Fig Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 9 ounces Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Figs stemmed and quartered
- 9 ounces semisweet chocolate bars chopped
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup hazelnuts toasted, plus more for garnish if desired, cooled
Toppings
- confectioner's sugar
- freshly whipped cream optional
Instructions
Make Buckwheat Crepes
- Heat the milk, whisking in cocoa powder, vanilla, and sugar until combined over medium low heat for 5 minutes, whisking occasionally until combined and warm. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Using a whisk or fork and bowl, or blender, combine the buckwheat flour, salt, butter, eggs, and warm cocoa milk together until smooth. Transfer to a bowl. Cover and chill the batter for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight.
- When ready to make the crepes, whisk 1/2 cup water into the batter. Place a large dinner plate or sheet pan on the stovetop next to where you will be cooking.
- Set an 8-inch nonstick skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Drop a small knob of unsalted butter into the pan, swiping around the sides with a paper towel to coat the bottom. Turn the heat down to medium low. Taking the pan off the heat, pour and swirl in 3 tablespoons but no more than 1/4 cup batter into the pan, tilt and swirl off the heat spreading the batter over itself in the middle until the batter stops moving. Place the pan back on the stovetop and cook for 1 minute and 30 seconds or when the top looks more dry and the edges have begun to release from the sides of the pan. Nudge a flexible spatula underneath and flip, cooking on the other side for 30 seconds. Place the crepes in a stack on the plate or sheet pan. Repeat until you’ve cooked all the batter.
Make the Fig Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache
- Place the cream and California Mission Figs in a small saucepan set over medium low heat, for about 5 minutes. Tumble the chopped chocolate or chocolate feves into a medium sized bowl. Place a strainer on top of the bowl and pour the cream through the strainer onto the chocolate below. Ignore the cream and chocolate for 3 minutes. Transfer the figs from the strainer to a food processor along with the salt and hazelnuts. Stir together the cream and chocolate until smooth. Then, transfer to the food processor. Process until smooth.
- Serve the crepes warm, filled with 2 tablespoons of fig chocolate ganache. Top with a dollop of whipped cream if desired or dust with confectioner’s sugar.