Year of the Horse Gallops Into a New Venture

Happy Lunar New Year! It's been a while since I last updated and with all the excitement going on, I figured I should start recording the process. In the initial stages, I am signed up for the New Business Acceleration Team (NBAT) offered by NYC. One step closer to finally achieving my dream of a dessert cafe. It's really crazy that I sometimes can't believe it's happening despite all the research I've done these past months. With businesses popping up everywhere, I was always under the false pretense that it must be an easy process. Boy, was I wrong. There's so many directions to go and so many priorities, it's difficult to weigh each one. If I ever start to break down, I'll vent here and maybe it'll help me get back up again.

In the meantime, today we made some crêpes. We were emulating the Japanese types that have a slight crunch compared to the French ones. Since it was New Year's, we used pieces of turnip cake (a traditional dish of the holiday) as the filling. This is surely not a traditional way of eating it!

Crêpe Batter

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Pinch of salt
3 eggs

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1¾ cup warmed milk

1. In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, and salt.

2. Beat eggs into flour mixture with a whisk until fully incorporated.

3. Add half of the milk and melted butter to flour and egg mixture until smooth. Add the rest in. (It will be very liquid but it makes it easier to spread in a pan or if you have a crêpe maker). Let it stand for about half an hour in the refrigerator to relax the gluten.

4. Pre-heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Take the pan off heat and pour a bit of batter in the center. Quickly swirl the pan around so the batter spreads evenly to the edges. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the underside is brown.

5. Lift the edges and flip the crêpe to cook for a few seconds more. Remove from heat. Then garnish as you wish.

These came out a little more buttery than I had wanted so next time I would either lower the quantity to half tablespoon butter or completely omit it. At least the edges were crispy! We also made another one with nutella, sliced strawberries, and bananas but I didn't take a photo of that. Anyhow, the possibilities are endless! I'll be off to assemble another one. Until next time.