
Ricotta Filled Chocolate Crepes
From our cookbook of the week, Artisan Cheese Making at Home by Mary Karlin, this recipe is a delicious sweet alternative for cheese. Chocolate crepes are spread with the decadent hazelnut-cocoa spread, Nutella, filled with sweet ricotta and topped with sour cherry and chopped hazelnuts. And as an alternative to sour cherries, you could always use fresh raspberries in season. The crepes can be made a day ahead. Stack them with plastic wrap between them and refrigerate in a re-sealable plastic bag. They will keep refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for about 1 month. Warm them before using.
Crepes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6T icing sugar
1/4 t salt
±2 1/2 cups full cream milk
2 large eggs
6 T butter, melted
1/2t vanilla extract
Filling
2 cups fresh ricotta, drained for 1 hour
1t icing sugar
1 1/2 cups Nutella hazelnut-cocoa spread
1 1/2 cups sour cherry (or fresh raspberries), warmed
3/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
Crepes
- In a medium bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt.
- In a separate bowl or in a blender, whisk together 2 cups of the milk, the eggs, 2T of the butter, and the vanilla. Add one-third of the dry ingredients to the blended liquid and blend until smooth. Repeat twice to blend in the rest of the dry ingredients.
- Cover and refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes or overnight. When ready to use, whisk the batter thoroughly and add up to ¼ cup more milk if the batter is thicker than runny pancake batter.
- Preheat a ±25cm nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Brush the bottom with melted butter.
- Ladle enough batter (about ¼ to ⅓ cup) into the pan just to cover the bottom. Immediately lift the pan of the heat and swirl the batter around to cover the bottom of the pan as though you were making an omelette. Cook for about 1 minute, until the edges start to look dry but not crispy and a few steam holes appear in the center. This tells you that there’s enough structure to the crepe to be able to flip it over. Using a spatula, turn the crepe over and cook for about 30 seconds. Slide the crepe from the pan onto a plate. Continue the process, brushing the pan with melted butter each time and stacking the crepes until all the batter is used.
Filling
- Put the ricotta and sugar in a bowl and stir until well combined.
- Spread half of each open crepe with 2T of Nutella. Crumble or spread the ricotta over the Nutella.
- Fold the plain half over the filled half and then fold again into a wedge. Place on a serving plate, top each with 2T of preserves and 1T of chopped hazelnuts, and serve.
Makes 12 dessert crepes
For more recipes from the book, click here
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