Maryam's Chocolate Crepes

This is Maryam's recipe. Kind of. It was Monday and we had just spent our entire weekend cooped inside. Maryam had a fever since Friday which meant she was off school. The weekend was spent trying to tear Hassan off Maryam as she rested on the sofa. The other half was spent pacifying Maryam as Hassan kept destroying her Lego creations. 

You know the usual. She made, he destroyed. Don't ask. So when Monday rolled round, I was relieved we had plans to go to the beach with friends. Followed by a picnic of course. Beaches are aways associated with picnics, yes? At least they are in our world.

'Mummy, what are you making to take to the beach?' Maryam enquired. 'I want something with chocolate, lots of chocolate.' A giggle escaped her lips. I had no choice but to agree- who could turn down chocolate right? We decided on crepes, slathered with Nutella and sealed with bananas.

As she did her usual routine of cracking eggs and telling me the same story she tells me every time she cracks eggs- that of her 21 year old cousin that is scared to break eggs, she asked, 'How about chocolate crepes?' And I thought why not?

As the batter whizzed and spun in the blender and we both eyed the bubbles frothing, I saw a tiny hand scooping more cocoa powder. 'It just doesn't look chocolaty enough.' Who was I to disagree. So instead of three, we put four tablespoons. Just right.

So that makes it Maryam's recipe right. She beamed when I said we'll call these Maryam's crepes from now. 'And I cracked the eggs all by myself and I wasn't even scared......' And she went on to repeat the same story for the nth time. 

After a hard day picking shells and sand at the beach for a special project (again, dont ask!), we feasted on these crepes. Some with bananas, some with raspberries. All with nutella though. And my Hassan, of course he joined in too. He's also just learnt to suck with a straw. He is utterly obsessed with straws now. And I with him. 

Maryam's Chocolate Crepes

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
4 tbs cocoa powder

Pinch of salt
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup soda water
2 eggs
2 tbs butter, melted and cooled
Melted butter for frying

Nutella, sliced bananas, raspberries, icing sugar and roasted hazel nuts to serve

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients in a blender and mix until the batter is smooth and lump free. If lumps remain, sieve the batter. Let it rest for at least an hour or more.

In a non stick frying pan set over medium heat, ladle approximately 1/3 cup batter at a time (the amount will depend on how big your pan is) and swirl the batter around the pan. Cook for about 1-2 minutes. You can add a few drops of butter to help lift the edges off to flip the pancake over. Cook for a further minute on the other side. Serve immediately with nutella, bananas, raspberries, icing sugar and hazel nuts.

Makes 10 crepes.