Brown Butter Crêpes with Berry and Cheesecake Filling
These Brown Butter Crêpes with Berry and Cheesecake Filling make a sublime dessert or a most decadent breakfast! You decide.
Making Crepes can be daunting, but my mom made them without a special crepe pan and used her blender to make the batter. They were always made for a special Sunday brunch when they were on the menu. This version is much more gourmet, but not much more difficult than my mom’s version.
Why You Must Make
- Serving crepes instead of buttermilk pancakes will make a memorable breakfast or brunch for your family!
- Brown butter adds a subtle nutty flavor to the batter which makes these crêpes out of this world!
- Who would ever reject crêpes rolled around a rich cheesecake filling for breakfast??? Especially topped with luscious ripe berries.
- If your kids are old enough, let them fold or roll the crêpes using the dreamy filling. Or help to pour the batter into the pan. You’re setting them up to cook breakfast for their families one day.
How to Make
- Make the batter and let it rest.
- Heat a crêpe pan or nonstick skillet and grease with a little butter on a paper towel.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into the center of the pan while tilting and turning it till a thin circle of batter covers most of the surface of the pan.
- Cook the first side, then flip and cook until the second side is browned.
- Remove from pan and repeat with the remaining batter, adding more butter as needed.
- Make the filling.
- Place spoonfuls of filling along the center of each crepe and arrange berries over the cream.
- Roll up and garnish with berries. Serve immediately.
Expert Tips
My mom taught us to make crêpes as teens, but our filling tended to be from an unglamorous can of cherry pie filling. In fact, I loaded up my youngest sister Maddy’s crêpe with SO much of that cherry concoction, that I think she’s sworn it off for life.
- Adding brown butter to the crêpe batter gave a wee bit of nuttiness to the pancakes.
- PRO-Tip: Have your crêpe ingredients at room temperature, if you have time.
- Use whole milk, if available, for the best results.
- I used a mixture of cream cheese, lemon, vanilla, and whipped cream along with a sprinkling of ripe berries and sliced strawberries to fill these, maybe a step up from the can of pie filling.
- PRO-Tip: Use a blender for mixing the batter. So easy, plus it has a built-in spout for pouring the batter! And to clean up, just fill partway up with water, add a drop of dish soap, and blend!
- PRO-Tip: Your crêpe batter needs time to rest for 5 minutes minimum, but the batter can be refrigerated for 24 hours, just cover with plastic wrap.
- PRO-Tip: You’ll need a good non-stick pan, 8-10 inches in diameter. A crepe pan is nice, too, but not necessary.
- Often when making any sort of pancakes, the first one isn’t perfect. It will still taste great, so you decide whether to use it to sample, serve, or discard.
- These crepes can be either an exquisite, decadent breakfast or a heavenly dessert. You decide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crêpe is French for pancake. They are light, paper-thin, and can be plain or flavored. Crêpes can be used for breakfast, snacks, an entree, or dessert.
A well-seasoned crêpe pan is a treasure. The short sides make the crêpes easy to flip and a heavy bottom helps control the heat distribution. But any nonstick or seasoned cast iron pan will do.
Brown butter, or beurre noisette, is butter that is cooked to the color of a light hazelnut (which translates to noisette in French). The milk solids brown and develop a nutty flavor.
Fillings can be rolled into a crepe or a filling like jam or Nutella can be spread on the crêpe before folding it into quarters.
You May Also Like
- Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
- Brown Butter Toffee Cookies
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Plus all my Best Breakfast Recipes
Brown Butter Crêpes Recipe with Berries and Cheesecake Filling
These Brown Butter Crêpes with Berry and Cheesecake Filling make a sublime dessert or a most decadent breakfast! You decide.
Ingredients
Crepes:
- 3 ½ + tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons milk (use more to thin batter if needed)
- 2 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cups flour
For filling:
- 4 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature)
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup whipping cream
- Ripe berries of your choice
Instructions
- In a saucepan, cook the butter over medium heat, swirling it every few seconds, until melted and golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
- Combine the milk, eggs, and salt in a blender. Blend till mixed, then add the flour and blend until very smooth. Add the brown butter and blend for a few more seconds.
- Allow the batter to rest for at least 5 minutes and up to one day (refrigerate if not using immediately).
- The batter should thicken but not be as thick as regular pancake batter. Thin as needed after resting period.
- Heat a crêpe pan or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Grease with a little butter on a paper towel.
- Pour about ¼ cup of the batter into the center of the pan while tilting and turning it till a thin circle of batter covers most of the surface of the pan.
- Cook till the edges begin to dry and lift from the sides of the pan and the bottom browns, about 1 minute. Flip using a spatula or your fingers, and cook until the second side is browned, about 20 seconds more.
- Remove from pan and repeat with the remaining batter, adding more butter as needed.
- To make filling beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, zest, and vanilla. In another bowl, whip cream. Carefully mix them together.
- Place spoonfuls of filling along the center of the crepe and arrange berries over the cream. Roll up and garnish with berries. Serve immediately.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 460Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 183mgSodium: 272mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 2gSugar: 11gProtein: 9g
51 Comments on “Brown Butter Crêpes with Berry and Cheesecake Filling”
This has been one of our favorite day starter!! Yummy!
Brown butter is my favorite and I want this for breakfast this week! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
I have always shied away from from crepes, thinking they were too delicate or complicated for me. I love how this recipe broke it down and made it seem doable. They turned out delicious! I have made them twice already!
This is perfect! Such an amazing day starter! Everyone at my house loved it.
Pure Decadence, Liz. Xx WOWWwww.
I knew it from the thumbnail that you had made the crepes. like your recipes, your pictures always stand out.
I tried my hands at these crepes today. did not look as good. will try them again soon.
ah man i looove crepes! perfect for summer breakfast too
Give me five of these please!
Lizzy,
I’ve never made sweet crepes or even eaten them. Yours look wonderful. Beautiful presentation.
Annamaria
These look great and I like the sound of the brown butter crepes.
Oh Liz – these crepes look delicious! I love the idea of making brown butter for the crepes. I could probably just eat the crepes by themselves.
Berries and cream cheese in crepes, simply great for an impressive breakfast.
I love crepes and these look wonderful Lizzy! all these foos with strawberries look wonderful:)
Have a nice weekend!
We adore crepes! Liv actually makes her own and does a fine job of it. I don’t know many other 13 year olds who come home and whip up a batch!! We haven’t done strawberry for a long time though… I think I need change that!
Love! This is super, Lizzy.
Love crepes. Love them with berries and a light cream cheese filling. I know these are winners. 🙂
LOVE your recipe! Thanks for participating in Behind The Curtain Dessert Challenge. I can’t wait to see what you create for next month’s challenge. Blueberries and Lemon! Have a GREAT week! ~Sheryl @ Lady Behind The Curtain~
What gorgeous crepes, Liz! I went to a cooking class a year ago and had to make them – let’s just say mine looked like the opposite of yours. You can’t go wrong with sweetened cream cheese and strawberries. What a perfectly decadent summer dessert.
You have a gift with berries. Everything you use them on looks so tempting and all the berries look picture perfect.
These crepes look sublime, Liz! So elegant and beautiful and the perfect summery dessert! Oh, and the brown butter – now, we’re talking. I love them 🙂
I love crepes and with a cream cheese and berry filling these would be wonderful xx
I love crepes and have eaten them all my life. Both my grandmothers were French and well, crepes were a requirement. 🙂
Neither of them made crepes that looked this good.
One of our favs.. Craving one now!!!
So elegant and beautiful! The crepes must have tasted wonderfully delicious, Liz.
This sounds heavenly Liz, just heavenly. I have the feeling I’d think I was there with the first bite 🙂
I love crepes! My mom used to make them for special breakfasts when I was growing up. We just put different jams inside. I could eat SO many of them. This reminds me that I really need to make them soon! I bet this brown butter version is out of this world 🙂
I LOVE crepes!
I’ve been dying to make crepes again and pondering over the filling I want to use. I have bridge fore 8 ladies later this month. Do you think I could make the filling and refrigerate, then assemble and serve 4 hrs later for dessert after lunch?
Yes, you can definitely make the components ahead of time. And you might even want to add a little jam or berry sauce on top of the filling as well. Hope your friends enjoy them, Kaye!
How do you keep coming up with such great desserts, Liz? This one sounds fabulous! All those berries – and brown butter? Perfect. Your photos are lovely too.
What a great idea to use brown butter to make these crepes Liz! They look amazing! Love the sound of the lemony cream cheese filling, goes perfect with the berries 🙂
One single plate would not be enough for me. I love crepes and these ones with a cheesecake and fruit filling make me devour them even more. Gorgeous pictures, Liz!!!
Very pretty! I love all the colors and your berries are beautiful:@)
Oh how funny I posted my crepes recipe on Tuesday and now running into your gorgeous crepes. I love the filling and sounds like a scrumptious treat. Thanks for sharing Liz:)
How did you know that crepes are my ULTIMATE weakness?!
These are the prettiest crepes ever! I adore the berries and cheesecake filling.
I genuinely do not know how many desserts you rolled into one here but they all look incredibly fabulous together 🙂
Yum!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I love crepes and yours sound great with those beautiful strawberries in them. What I can’t figure out though is “How that Skinny Chick Can Bake” and not gain a pound. That’s what you should be sharing with everyone!
Oh they look so perfectly delicious! I love crepes and make them all the time, but they never look that good 🙂
I got hooked on brown butter, but I never thought of crepe with brown butter. I have to make it this weekend. I can hardly wait!!!!
Wow! These look amazing!
Wow, your crepes look amazing Liz! B and I love crepes, and we can’t wait to try out your recipe, the brown butter sounds amazing!
I missed the link-up time for the Behind The Curtain Dessert Challenge, hope you’ll stop by and check out my contribution: http://thecookssister.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/behind-the-curtain-dessert-challenge-strawberries-and-raspberries-stewed-rhubarb-with-strawberries-and-raspberries/
ohhh, this looks really good! I mean we could have this for breakfast! Every time I read your posts, I just want to hang out in your kitchen and cook with you, I don’t know what it is! Love your recipes!
Simply spectacular and creative as always
Beautiful pairing, Liz! I can never resist strawberries!
Your crepes are perfect! It’s so awesome that your mom taught you to make them. My mom would make them for us and we’d have flipping contests, but I never learned how she did it. Maybe I’ll have to get to teach me next time I head north.
How lovely, Liz! Yes, your presentation is stellar and looks irresistible. (How can you go wrong with a cheesecake filling in crepe?) But how lovely, too, that your mother taught you and your sister how to make crepes in your teens.
and now I’m obsessed with the idea of brown butter crepes.
You made me swoon with the idea of brown butter crepes! Just the thing to make crepe batter even better. This is my new crepe batter from now on. About the fillings, there are so many good ones, it´s never ending…
I think I died and went to heaven. This sounds so good, it could double as a breakfast item right!? 😉
Berries, crepes and cream cheese are made to go together. That is one beautiful dessert, Lizzy.