Galettes & crêpes
Crêpes Suzette (flambéed orange crêpes)
Crêpes Suzette are thin crêpes warmed in a sauce of butter, sugar and orange, then doused with Grand Marnier and flambéed.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Rest
- 30 min
- Total
- 75 min
- Servings
- 4
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
This dessert looks like a grand restaurant act, yet you can make it at home in a single pan. The crêpes can be cooked ahead, and the butter, sugar and orange sauce is ready in five minutes. The part that needs your full attention is the flambé, which lasts about half a minute.
Method
- 01
Mix the flour with the sugar and salt, add the eggs and whisk in the milk a little at a time, until the batter is smooth and as thin as single cream. Stir in the melted butter and let the batter rest for 30 minutes.
- 02
In a hot, lightly greased pan of 22 to 24 cm, cook 12 thin crêpes, about a minute on each side. Fold each one in half, then in half again into a triangle.
- 03
Finely grate the zest of one orange and squeeze the juice of both, about 150 ml. In a wide frying pan, melt the butter with the sugar over medium heat and let it bubble for 2 minutes, until it starts to turn golden. Pour in the juice carefully (it will spit), add the zest and a tablespoon of Grand Marnier, and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until syrupy.
- 04
Lay the folded crêpes in the sauce, turn them so they soak it up on both sides, and let them warm through for 1 to 2 minutes.
- 05
Take the pan off the heat. Measure the rest of the Grand Marnier into a ladle (never pour straight from the bottle), tip it over the crêpes and let it warm in the hot sauce for a few seconds. Then light it at the edge of the pan with a long match or lighter. The flame goes out by itself, usually within half a minute.
- 06
Serve at once, three crêpes per plate, with the sauce from the pan spooned over. A scoop of vanilla ice cream goes well with them.
Before you flambé, switch off the extractor fan, tie back long hair and put the liqueur bottle well away from the heat. Do not lean over the pan when you light it, and keep a lid at hand: if the flame will not die down, cover the pan and it goes out.
Grate only the orange outer layer of the peel. The white pith underneath is bitter.
You can cook the crêpes a day ahead. Wrap them in cling film and keep them in the fridge: they warm through in the hot sauce in two minutes.
Frequently asked
- Can crêpes Suzette be made without alcohol?
- Yes. Leave out the liqueur and the flambé and add a few extra spoonfuls of orange juice to the sauce. It will taste fresher and fruitier. The flame does not burn off all the alcohol and some stays in the sauce, so make the alcohol-free version for children and drivers.
- What is beurre Suzette?
- Beurre Suzette is the orange butter that turns into the sauce: butter creamed with sugar, finely grated orange zest, juice and orange liqueur. It melts in the pan and the crêpes soak it up. In the recipe above we take a shortcut and make it straight in the pan. Some old recipes use tangerine instead of orange.
- Who invented crêpes Suzette?
- Nobody knows for certain. The story goes that in 1895, at the Café de Paris in Monte Carlo, a young waiter called Henri Charpentier was making a dessert for the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. The sauce supposedly caught fire by accident, and the prince named the crêpes after a girl at his table, Suzette. Historians doubt the tale, and other versions circulate, including one about a Paris actress said to have been known as Suzette.
- Where can I eat crêpes Suzette in Bratislava?
- At Saint Paul Bistrot in Fresh Market, Rožňavská 1a, 1st floor. They come at the end of the menu, under “Na záver · flambovaná palacinka” (to finish: flambéed crêpe): orange variations, Grand Marnier and vanilla ice cream, 210 g for €9.90. We are open Monday to Friday 10:00-17:00 and Saturday 10:00-16:00.
Rather taste than cook?
Bistrot lunch, galettes, crêpes and Sorre cider: Fresh Market, 1st floor, Monday to Saturday.