Crêpes Suzette is one of the most famous French desserts made from homemade crepes and a delicious caramelized sauce made of butter, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and Grand Marnier. Flambé it right before serving to enjoy that amazing orange flavor. The alcohol burns off quickly leaving the caramelized orange sauce behind. My mouth is watering just thinking about it again.
I was extremely happy to learn from our resident pastry chef, Christophe Rull, this is an extremely easy crepes suzette recipe. I always had it in my mind they would be very hard and you had to have a special crepe pan. The batter comes together in a flash and we just used a regular non-stick pan. My favorite part was adding the cinnamon to the flambé and wow what a show!
A crêpe is a little like thin pancakes but it does not contain any baking powder. The texture is light, spongy, and a little chewy with crispy outer edges. Crêpes can be savory or sweet and make wonderful containers for all kinds of crêpe fillings like ham and cheese, bananas and Nutella, or berries and whipped cream.
Table of contents
Crêpe Suzette Ingredients
Crêpes Suzette does contain alcohol so if you're serving to kids, you should leave out the alcohol. They make the perfect dessert for brunch or dinner parties and are often served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
You can replace orange juice with tangerine juice and you can substitute the rum with orange liqueur to make the delicious syrup.
Bread flour has a high protein content so it creates a crêpe that holds up well to being dipped in the sauce and flambéed. If you do not have bread flour, you can use all-purpose flour.
How to Make Crêpes Suzette
There are a few steps to making crepe suzette. First, you make the crepe batter, then cook the crepes, make the caramel sauce, and finally flambé the crepes in the sauce.
Making the Crepes
- First, we need to brown the butter. Add your unsalted butter to a large pot over medium heat. The butter will cook down, so it's best to start with more butter than you'll need for the crepes. (This step is optional but browning the butter adds amazing flavor. If you don't want to brown your butter, just melt it.)
- Continue cooking the melted butter until it has browned and smells rich and nutty.
- Set the butter aside to cool.
- Combine your milk, eggs, sugar, salt, brown butter, and flour in a tall measuring cup or a large bowl and blend with an immersion blender until it is a smooth batter. (Or you can do this in the blender). Pro-tip: You can make the crêpe batter a day in advance and store it covered in the fridge, but it should be room temperature before you use it.
- Preheat a large skillet (non-stick) over medium heat (170ºF) for 5 minutes.
- Coat the pan with a little butter. (You do not need much butter but you should coat the pan in butter after cooking each crepe.)
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into the center of the pan and use your wrist to swirl the batter around the pan to make an even layer. Make sure there is enough batter to coat the base of the pan.
- Let the crêpe cook until it is golden brown on the bottom. You can check by lifting one side of the crêpe to see underneath. The edges of the should be a little crispy.
- Loosen the edges of the crêpe with your spatula then flip the crêpe over with your hands or the spatula.
- Let it cook a few more minutes and then remove the crêpe to a plate. That's it! In my opinion, easier and faster than a pancake.
- Continue cooking crepes this way with the remaining batter.
Making the Orange Sauce (beurre suzette)
- Add the sugar to a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Move the sugar around the pan to melt it evenly until you have a nice caramel.
- Add your butter to the pan and stir.
- Add in your orange juice and orange zest.
- Reduce the mixture until the sauce thickens.
- Fold your crêpes into quarters and place the folded crepe into the orange sauce four at a time (or however many your pan fits).
- Flip the crepes over and cook until the sauce almost completely disappears.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Add your Grand Marnier and here comes the fun part, ignite the alcohol with a kitchen torch! Be very careful to not burn yourself.
- You can also sprinkle on a little cinnamon which also ignites and makes a fun show if done in full view of the guests.
- Once the alcohol burns off you can serve your crepe suzette with some orange segments, powdered sugar, the leftover sauce, and of course, a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Even a candied orange peel would be pretty!
- Repeat this process for the remaining crepes.
Tips For Making Your First Crêpes Suzette
- Preheat your pan properly as crêpe batter sticks to cold pans.
- If your crêpe gets brown too quickly, reduce the heat a little.
- If you don't have an immersion blender or a blender, you can use a hand whisk.
- You can double the sauce recipe and make it separate from the crepes and pour it over the finished crepes before serving.
FAQ
Yes, store the batter covered in the fridge for up to two days. Some say the crepes are even better after chilling the batter and letting it rest.
Yes, you can store them flat in a Ziploc bag in the fridge with parchment in between. You can even freeze leftover crepes.
Some say that the name of the dish Crêpes Suzette was named after French actress Suzanne Reichenberg by Monsieur Joseph, owner of Restaurant Marivaux. Others say it was accidentally created in Paris by Henri Charpentier for the Prince of Wales when a waiter poured the sauce too close to a candle and caused it to ignite! However it was made though, it is now a beloved dessert.
Crepes do not have any baking powder so they are thin, flat, and have a more rubbery texture. They can be sweet or savory and they are meant to be eaten by filling them with other ingredients like your favorite fruits, whipped cream, ham, cheese, mushrooms, etc. Pancakes are thick and fluffy and are usually served with butter, syrup, and sometimes berries. Pancakes are not usually savory.
A nice sweet white wine or mimosa goes perfectly with this classic French dessert.
Related Recipes
Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Immersion blender
Ingredients
Crepes
- 10 ounces milk (1 ¼ cups)
- 6 ounces eggs (3 eggs)
- 1 ounce brown butter (2 Tbsp)
- ½ ounce granulated sugar (5 tsp)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 4 ounces bread flour (or All purpose flour) (1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon rum (or Grand marnier) optional
Orange Sauce
- 2 ounces melted butter (4 Tbsp)
- 3 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 9 ounces orange juice (1 cup)
- 1 half orange zest
- 3 tablespoon Grand Marnier
Instructions
Making the Crepes
- First, we need to brown the butter. Add your unsalted butter to a large pot over medium heat. The butter will cook down, so it's best to start with more butter than you'll need for the crepes. (This step is optional but browning the butter adds amazing flavor. If you don't want to brown your butter, just melt it.)
- Continue cooking the melted butter until it has browned and smells rich and nutty.
- Set the butter aside to cool.
- Combine your milk, eggs, sugar, salt, brown butter, and flour in a tall measuring cup or a large bowl and blend with an immersion blender until it is a smooth batter. (Or you can do this in the blender). Pro-tip: You can make the crêpe batter a day in advance and store it covered in the fridge, but it should be room temperature before you use it.
- Preheat a large skillet (non-stick) over medium heat (170ºF) for 5 minutes.
- Coat the pan with a little butter. (You do not need much butter but you should coat the pan in butter after cooking each crepe.)
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into the center of the pan and use your wrist to swirl the batter around the pan to make an even layer. Make sure there is enough batter to coat the base of the pan.
- Let the crêpe cook until it is golden brown on the bottom. You can check by lifting one side of the crêpe to see underneath. The edges of the should be a little crispy.
- Loosen the edges of the crêpe with your spatula then flip the crêpe over with your hands or the spatula.
- Let it cook a few more minutes and then remove the crêpe to a plate. That's it! In my opinion, easier and faster than a pancake.
- Continue cooking crepes this way with the remaining batter.
Making the Orange Sauce (beurre suzette)
- Add the sugar to a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Move the sugar around the pan to melt it evenly until you have a nice caramel.
- Add your butter to the pan and stir.
- Add in your orange juice and orange zest.
- Reduce the mixture until the sauce thickens.
- Fold your crêpes into quarters and place the folded crepe into the orange sauce four at a time (or however many your pan fits).
- Cook until the sauce almost completely disappears.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Add your Grand Marnier and here comes the fun part, ignite the alcohol with a kitchen torch! Be very careful to not burn yourself.
- You can also sprinkle on a little cinnamon which also ignites and makes a fun show if done in full view of the guests.
- Once the alcohol burns off you can serve your crepe suzette with some orange segments, powdered sugar, the leftover sauce, and of course, a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Even a candied orange peel would be pretty!
- Repeat this process for the remaining crepes.
Video
Notes
- Preheat your pan properly as crêpe batter sticks to cold pans.
- If your crêpe gets brown too quickly, reduce the heat a little.
- If you don't have an immersion blender or a blender, you can use a hand whisk.
- You can double the sauce recipe and make it separate from the crepes and pour it over the finished crepes before serving.
- If your crepes are sticking to the bottom of the pan, you're either not using enough butter or your pan is too hot.
- You can store the batter covered in the fridge for up to two days. Some say the crepes are even better after chilling the batter and letting it rest.
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