Recipe Day: Vegan Chocolate Crepes with Fruit Compote

These were vegan (egg- and milk-free), my own creation, and amazingly tasty. There really isn't much more to say - so on to the recipe!

Crepe Ingredients:

1 c. flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. cocoa powder (we used Special Dark Cocoa Powder, if you use something else you may need to adjust your sugar)
1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
1 - 1 1/4 c. milk substitute, juice or water
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
Oil (I use olive for just about everything, but grape seed oil has a lighter flavor and is still better than canola or vegetable oils)

Directions:

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients except for the flax seed in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
2. Put the flax and 3 Tbsp. water in a small pot on the stove. Heat until the water boils and the flax seed gets "puffy" - it will be a sort of sticky substance this way and work better in the crepes.
3. Add the flax to the flour mix, but do not worry about blending it in yet.
4. Begin to add the liquid to your mix. You want to keep going until the mix is fairly thin - if it's too thick you'll get something more like pancakes ultimately.
5. Heat your pan until it's pretty hot and add just enough oil to coat the bottom - you should keep another small glass bowl or measuring cup nearby to pour excess oil back out of the pan for the next round. Too much oil will make your crepes greasy.
6. Using a soup ladle, put a scoop of batter into the pan and "swirl" the pan to coat the bottom. It will begin to cook quickly, so expect this step to take a little practice. You may need to use your ladle to spread the batter a bit, or fill in with a little more. The video below will show you what I mean.
7. As the video says, your crepes should cook very quickly. Just like with pancakes, once it is cooked on one side, flip it over. Keep a plate nearby to stack them on  as you remove them from the heat.
8. Fill your crepes with the compote (recipe below - makes an easy homemade jam), with commercial jelly, or whatever you like. We topped ours with powered sugar. Eat them while still warm for mouth-watering goodness.

Compote Ingredients:

1 - 2 bags of frozen fruit, berries are best, tropical gets a little strange

1/2 - 1 c. sugar (depending on how sweet you want your jam/compote to be - I tend to use less in ours and let the fruit flavors show through more) or juice.

1 tsp cornstarch

Water

Directions:

1. Put the frozen fruit and sugar in a small pot with about 2 Tbsp. water.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch and 3 Tbsp. water. Do NOT do this directly in the pan - the cornstarch will clump up and be gross in your jam.
3. Once the fruit is thawed and bubbly, add the cornstarch water and mix well while boiling. If it gets too thick, add a little more juice or water to thin it out some. It will thicken even a little more as it cools, so you want it to be thinner rather than thicker.
4. Remove from heat and let cool a bit before spreading on your crepes.

Enjoy!

If you decide to try this recipe out, I'd love it if you came back to leave a comment about how you liked it or to give amendments of your own to try! In the meantime, use the search box at the right to look for more recipes on my blog!