Seriously. I've always had some type of a love affair with books, so B&N might as well just be labeled "Michelle Give Up Saving Money and Buy Books You Don't Have Time To Read Instead". It gets pretty intense when I walk in there. All the books are just so perfectly arranged with such pretty covers and endless ideas inside them! They're enticing. Especially because I am a naturally curious person (almost to a fault, in fact-- my questions often get me into uncomfortable situations with strangers). Books are just full of so many things that I want to learn and haven't yet, and they are never ending. I just love the idea of an infinite amount of knowledge floating around different societies, all impacting people in one way or another.
I'm pretty sure I'm just justifying my addiction to reading with some poetic and philosophical blabber, but whatever. It works. I actually branched out from my fiction section and invested about $150 in some Marketing, Management, and Psychology books that I've had my eye on for a few months. I also saw a new book concerning eating eisorders (actually, anorexia mainly), and so I pounced on that right away. When I first entered college, I was absolutely positive I was going to work with eating disorder patients. My goals have since changed to prenatal and early childhood nutritional counseling, but I can't help still sticking my nose into the eating disorder literature that I see. I actually finished the book, which is How To Disappear Completely: On Modern Anorexia, in a few days because it was so dang good.
Ok, I know that this is supposed to be a cooking blog, not a book one. I'll get on with it, and stop ranting about the money that I pour down the drain for cut-up trees, some ink, and a plethora of ideas and proverbial experiences.
Today's recipe really just fits the mood I'm in, which is chocolate + banana + peanut butter. I sometimes get random cravings for bananas (and, let's be honest, everyone always wants chocolate), and it can be boring to just keep adding them to yogurt/oatmeal each morning. So I've gotten into the habit of spreading some type of nut butter (usually almond, but peanut butter is good too) on the banana and eating it like that. I figured I would combine all three into a recipe, and it didn't take long for me to know exactly what I wanted the form to be. This weekend, I had some extra time to play around and decided that I was going to tackle the crepes that have been floating around my mind for a decent amount of time. These crepes are honestly just delicious, and they were fun to make!
Something that I know a few of you are thinking: Oh no. Crepes. I'm not a French chef, I just cook at home for fun, so why would I want to try something so hard? And to that I say: blasphemy! We are wayyyy too risk-adverse as a society, and we underestimate our own skills. People are really afraid of making crepes, because they seem to fancy, but I 100% believe that you (yes, YOU, right there) can take these crepes and not only make them, but make them awesomely! It's totally worth the first few mistakes, because you get an end result of creamy honey-peanut butter spread, a drizzle of decadent chocolate, and sweet banana, all wrapped up in an indulgent little package. For breakfast. Breakfast! Perfect excuse to eat sweets, particularly ones that are actually healthier for you.
(But you won't know it).
Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Banana Crepes
Makes
8 Crepes
Ingredients:
Batter:
Batter:
- 1/4c. (34.5g) whole wheat flour
- 1/4c. (34g) all purpose flour
- 2tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 3/4c. unsweetened almond milk
- 1/8tsp salt
- 2tsp melted butter
- 2 tbl sugar
- cooking spray
- 1tsp vanilla
- 1/4c. smooth peanut butter
- 1/4c. honey, warmed (microwave works wonders)
- 1/2c. low fat cream cheese
- 4 small bananas
- 1/2c. sugar-free chocolate syrup (such as Hershey's)
Instructions
- Whisk all batter ingredients in a bowl until smooth. The batter will be watery.
- Heat up a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray, and then gently wipe the pan with a paper towel so the spray is evenly covering all of it.
- Using a ladle, pour 3tbl of batter onto the center of the pan.
- Holding onto the handle of the pan, remove it from the heat and swirl the pan so the batter coats the bottom of the pan. You want to make the coating as thin as possible.
- The batter will quickly (about 1 min or less) dry and loose its shine. It's time to turn the crepe over. Use a non-metal spatula to loosen the crepe from the pan. Use the spatula to flip over the crepe. It's perfectly acceptable to use your fingers if necessary.
- Continue cooking the crepe until it is done. You will know because the sides will start to rise up very slightly, and it will no longer look "gummy" or "watery". After the crepe has finished cooking, gently slide it out onto a plate. If you like, you can stack the crepes in a ovenproof dish and keep them warm in the oven set at 195 degrees.
- To make crepe filling, place peanut butter, honey, and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until well-mixed and creamy, about 1 minute. Cut each banana into round slices (cutting width-wise), making them very thin, and set aside.
- To assemble the crepes: Take a cooked crepe and lay it out on a plate. Spread 1 and 1/2tbl of the peanut butter mixture on the top half of the circle, then cover it with banana slices (the equivalent of 1/2 of a banana). You can either fold the "unfrosted" half of the crepe on top of the frosted half and then fold again, or you can roll it up. Drizzle each crepe with 1tbl of the chocolate syrup.
Sodium: 121mg
Total Fat: 8g
Saturated: 3g
Trans: 0g
Protein: 6g
Sugar: 23g
Calories: 242
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