la chandeleur

La Chandeleur is celebrated on February 2nd (same day as Groundhogs Day in the US) and it's the day of Crepes for the French!

It is really a Catholic Holiday celebrating a feast to commemorate the presentation of baby Jesus.

I made the crepe batter this year, here is F's recipe:

250 grams (2 cups) Flour (all purpose)
300 ml (~10 ounces) Milk
200 ml (~6 ounces) Beer
Salt
1 tablespoon Vanilla Sugar (or regular sugar)
shot of Rum
3 eggs
1 tablespoon of Vegetable Oil

Put flour/salt/sugar mixture into a mixing bowl and put the eggs into the center.  Beat eggs and flour mixture until incorporated.  Then add remaining liquids slowly to avoid lumps.

Grease a hot non stick crepe pan (we got ours from Bed Bath and Beyond OR 10 inch non stick omelet pan) with vegetable oil (do this after ever crepe). And pour 3/4 of a ladle and move it all around to cover the entire pan. Wait till crepe is browned slightly and pulls up from the pan easily. Flip and brown the other side. Normally we make all crepes ahead of time and place them on a plate over boiling water until ready to eat (to keep warm). 



With this recipe you can make sweet crepes or salty ones!  For the salty crepes we usually fry an egg (on a separate pan) and place it on top of ham and cheese then fold the crepe!  For sweet crepes I prefer strawberries and cream.  While F's fav is just white sugar with lime juice ;-0  We also like nutella and bananas.

There is a good luck/fortune tradition with making crepes on La Chandeleur. While holding a coin in your right hand, when the crepe is ready to be flipped make sure you flip it 180 degrees without dropping it! It will mean a prosperous year for you and your family ;-)