This ultra-thin pancake has been part of my life since I began to eat solid food. It was the queen of comfort foods and still is for me. It’s not a food you need to sit down at the table and wait for to be served, but rather; it’s a magical thing that slides out of the pan, onto a plate to be slathered and rolled with filling and eaten right away, or better yet, right out of the pan delivered by spatula into your hands.

Two hands are required. One hand is to hold it to your mouth, the other hand to hold the tail end up so the filling doesn’t drip all over you. Usually, the first ones off the pan never make it to the rolling plate, we held the transparent circle of cooked dough and ripped pieces from it and ate it plain. We were like little birds, waiting for morsels from the mother bird.

The ones my mother made were almost always perfect. Mine however were not, I had a long learning curve, but later on I intentionally made mistakes. The imperfect ones were for “testing”.  When I saw the kids waiting in anticipation, I made a wonky one so they could get one right away, I just had to hold it in the air to cool it for a minute not to burn their hands. It was my way of keeping the anticipatory magic alive for me.

Yesterday I decided to try to make palacsinta. It’s been ten years since I played with that delicious thin batter. I wanted to make super comfort food that doesn’t take an eight-hour commitment like cinnamon rolls. 

My granddaughter was here, and I asked her if her Mom made them for her.  Shockingly, the answer was no. It’s not an easy thing to master. It’s all technique and a messy undertaking.

So I set about setting up the batter, the small fry pan, plates, and filling, primarily jam, but my unlikely actual favorite is fresh lemon juice squeezed on the crepe then dusted with sugar and rolled up. Very sublime.

And then, just as the first ones came off the pan, she was, just like her mother, the baby bird, waiting in anticipation. It was magical. After the first one, I could tell she was smitten. Thereafter she took over smearing the jam and rolling them up for herself, and for a brief moment, time stood still, even backpedaling a bit.

Mastering crepe making is a bit messy, and can be daunting, but the best thing you can do for yourself is to have people around to make the mistakes disappear. Children love mistakes, especially if it involves some sort of disaster.

Basic Crepe recipe

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk (10 fluid ounces; 280ml)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (5 ounces; 140g)
• 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter or vegetable oil (1/2 ounce; 15ml), plus more for cooking
• Pinch kosher salt
  
  
• 1 tablespoon (8g) sugar, if making sweet crepes
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, chervil, or chives (optional; for savory crepes)

I have used beer to thin the batter, my mother used was with water. I l prefer using club soda to lighten them.