Julia Child’s Flaming Crepes Suzette (Crepes with Orange Butter, Flambees) recipe with Julie and Julia movie DVD give-away

Although tempting to sell my used copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” along with some of the hair I pulled out while cooking from it, I held onto it because I have learned so much from Julia. One of the recipes that has been calling my name… maybe not my name but rather Suzette’s name is Crepe’s Suzette. Why has it been calling? Well, for the flames, of course. I freak out about heights, closed in spaces, being misunderstood and fire so this was a challenge for me.

First we make Crepes Fines Sucrees

Place ingredients in the blender in the order in which they are listed.

3/4 cup milk                            3/4 cup water                      3 egg yolks                            1 Tbs. granulated sugar

3 Tbs. orange liquer, rum or brandy – I used Grand Marnier – Lapostolle triple orange liqeur from the adorable mini bottle but it wasn’t enough so you’ll want to be sure you buy enough for your crepes. Don’t be deceived by the super cuteness of the minis!

1 cup of flour                         5 Tbs. melted butter

It will look something like this when you are done placing the ingredients in the blender. How cool looking are those layers?? Cover and blend at top speed for 1 minute. If bits of flour adhere to sides of jar, dislodge with a rubber scraper and blend 3 seconds more.

After blended, your crepe batter should look like this. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Orange Butter

In a food processor, place 1/2 cup sugar in the container along with the orange part of the peel.

I stood there and stared at my orange.What did Julia mean this time? She didn’t mention a zester so I was lost.

Aha! I realized this is why she had the veggie peeler listed as a tool. I was to use it to take the zest off of the orange. Give me a “D”. Give me an “E”. Give me an “A”… Yay, Deanna!

Wondering why one spot is still on the orange? It had a little bad spot so I didn’t want to place it in the recipe. You know what that looks like?

I know, right?! Totally looks like lips! Now my orange was staring back at me. I think I’ll name her Suzette.

Place orange peels into the processor with the sugar and process for a minute or until finely blended.

Pretty………..

Add two sticks (1/2 pound) of butter cut into small pieces. Process until smooth and almost fluffy.

Add 1/2 cup of the orange juice…

and 3 Tbs. orange liqeur - Are you kiddin’ me? I paid $4 for this little bottle and I ran out after 4 1/2 tablespoons??  I had to use some leftover triple sec from another Julia recipe.

Okay, here she says to add more orange juice – as much as the butter can take and still remain creamy. I added just a touch more o.j. and it started to look like this… not so creamy now if you ask me. How exactly, Julia, are we supposed to predict when the butter has reached it’s creaminess limit? It’s not like I can draw lips on it & have it tell me when it’s reached it’s limit. Set butter aside or save in refrigerator if you are waiting until later to make the crepes.

It was at this point that I followed the instructions right into something that looked vaguely familiar… ah yes… that’s why it’ s familiar. I JUST made this five minutes ago in a food processor! Thank you, Julia, for the extremely difficult back up instructions in case your readers are using an electric mixer INSTEAD of a processor. I know this blog post is getting wordy but believe me, there are a few choice words that I am not using here so I have saved you some reading… and corruption.

The Big Finish

Remove crepe batter from the fridge.

Cook crepes and set aside. The good news is that by the time I finished the orange butter and the unnecessary orange butter, the crepes had been in the fridge long enough for me to cook them.

Place the orange butter in the chafing dish and heat until it is bubbling.

Dip both sides of crepe in butter.

Fold in half and in half again and place on edge of chafing dish. Rapidly continue with rest of the crepes until all have been dipped, folded and arranged. Sprinkle the crepes with sugar.

Pour over them the orange liqeur and cognac. Avert your face and ignite the liqeur with a lighted match. Shake the chafing dish gently back and forth while spooning the flaming liqeur over the crepes until the fire dies down.

… until the fire dies down.

… until the fire dies down.

… until the fire dies down.

… until the excitement dies down.

…until the depression settles in over the fact that you pretty much have the same crepe that you had pre-fire show and you are left with the second realization that the freakin’ $40 cookbook that you loathe would only sell for 99 cents on ebay with all the butter and orange liqeurs that you’ve spilled on it.

My review of Crepes Suzette? Well, they’re tasty but need some chocolate sauce on them. I suppose that defeats the recipe a bit. I’ve had better luck with Julia’s savory dishes than her desserts. My husband has been begging for the Boeuf Bourguignon again so maybe it’s time to take a time-out from French sweets and oranges with lips.

Julie and Julia movie DVD give-away!

Tomorrow, January 2nd, we’ll be celebrating 20,000 hits on our blog! Yay! This calls for a comment contest give-away!

Enter to win a copy of Julie and Julia on DVD.

• Just leave a comment on this post with your creative alternate use my big hardback copy of my Julia Child’s cookbook!
• If you win, I will be sending you Julia and Julia on DVD.
  
• Leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win (either a blog link or email).
• Deadline to enter is by January 5, 2010 (recorded by the time stamp of your comment).
• The winner will be announced sometime on January 6th on this post.

* One winner will be chosen using the Random.org integer generator.

Until next time, XOXOXO from Suzette and I !