We are having a celebration and you are invited! My friends at Le Creuset asked me to help celebrate the first anniversary of their store in the posh, hip Denver shopping district of Cherry Creek North. The dedicated Le Creuset store houses an onsite kitchen were regular cooking demonstrations are held and any Le Creuset product may be demonstrated by their knowledgeable staff at any time.
In my family Le Creuset is a legacy purchase. My grandmother cooked with Le Creuset, my mother cooks with Le Creuset as do my husband and I. Like diamonds for a girl, a kitchen just can’t have enough Le Creuset and fortunately there is an abundance of products (always in array of beautiful colors) from which to choose.
Knowing a party is only as fun as the gift bag, Le Creuset and Boulder Locavore are offering one lucky reader the chance to own one of their newer pieces: the Signature 2 ½ quart 2-in-1 Pan in Cherry red (suggested retail price $220.00). This is a traditional lifetime-guaranteed, enamel-coated cast iron pan with a twist; the lid is also a skillet perfect for making a second dish. This unique pan is available now at Le Creuset Signature stores and online.
No celebration is complete without a special dish and I’ve whipped up a new recipe for Fall-Spiced Pear and Cherry Crepes using my new 2-in-1 pan. It was perfect for cooking the autumnal fruit and boozy raisin crepe filling (family-friendly recipe option noted), while swirling the crepes in the ideally sized skillet. That’s just the start of all that can be done with this pan set. Your imagination is your only limitation!
Fall-Spiced Pear & Cherry Crepes
Ingredients
Ingredients for Pear & Cherry crepe filling:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted Butter
- ½ cup Golden Raisins
- ½ cup dark Rum*
- 3 cups Pears (approximately 3 large pears), ripe but firm, peeled, cored and cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 ¾ cups Sweet Cherries , fresh or frozen/thawed, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon ground Cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground Nutmeg , preferably freshly ground
- 1 tablespoon granulated Sugar
Ingredients for the Crepes:
- ¾ cups Flour , gluten-free or with gluten (I used King Arthurs Gluten-Free Flour Blend)
- ¼ cup French Vanilla Half and Half (I used Organic Valley brand)**
- ¼ cup Half and Half
- ½ cup Whole Milk
- 2 large Eggs , room temperature
- ¼ cup fine grain granulated Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Chinese Five Spice
- Garnish: Powdered Sugar , if desired
- Supplies: heat-resistant soft spatula for maneuvering crepes , wax paper, clean kitchen towel, 2 dinner plates
Instructions
Instructions for the Pear & Cherry crepe filling:
- Place the golden raisins in a small mixing bowl. Cover with the rum and allow to sit for 30 minutes. Drain from the rum (you can discard or use the rum for something else; it will not go back into the recipe). Rough chop the raisins.
- In a medium-large saucepan, melt the butter.
- Add the pears, cherries, raisins, spices and sugar to the pan. Bring to a low simmer and allow to cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Instruction for making the Crepes:
- Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend to fully combine. Place the covered blender jar into the refrigerator and chill for at least one hour.
- Assemble the following: a dinner plate with a clean cotton kitchen towel, a second dinner plate and 7 sheets of wax paper roughly the size of the dinner plate.
- Select an 8-inch skillet or crepe pan. If not non-stick, prepare the pan with cooking spray (note: I do not use cooking spray on Le Creuset pans. I used a small amount of butter for the first crepes I made in the skillet and then found I did not need anything and the crepes turned out beautifully, easily sliding out of the pan when done).
- Over medium-high heat, pour ¼ cup of the crepe batter into the heated pan. Swirl the batter around by tipping the pan until it covers the bottom and lower sides of the pan. Allow crepe to cook until it appears dry on the side facing up (about 1 minute). Gently work the spatula underneath the crepe to flip it to the opposite side. Cook about 15 seconds on the opposite side.
- Remove the crepe and place onto the clean kitchen towel to briefly cool.
- Continue Step 7 to cook the remaining 7 crepes. When finishing a new crepe, move the cooling crepe from the dish towel to the dinner plate and place a sheet of wax paper on top of it. In the end you will have a stack of crepes with wax paper between them which prohibits them from sticking to each other.
Assembling the crepes:
- Place one crepe on a serving plate. Using a slotted spoon, spoon approximately ½ cup of fruit filling into the crepe in a line (vs. putting it all in the center of the crepe). Gently roll one end over the filling and then the other end over the first end. Roll crepe over, tucking the ends underneath it. Spoon some of the filling juices over the crepe and dust with powdered sugar if desired. Should there be remaining fruit filling when the crepes are assembled, that maybe dished over the top of the crepe as well.
Notes
Nutrition
To enter the Giveaway (open to U.S. residents/shipping addresses only): {CLOSED}
Disclosure: I was supplied a duplicate Le Creuset 2-in-1 pan for the purposes of this post. All opinions are my own.
Colette says
Absolutely love this recipe. It’s easy to make the flavors are so good. It’s so fun to be able to make crepes at home!