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How to make a tantalizing breakfast with hardly any effort at all.

A plate of crêpes topped with fresh strawberries, with a viola garnish.

Once upon a time, I used to make my young son toast or cereal for breakfast before school, just like what most other kids were eating.
On Saturday, though, breakfast was special: "Hey, pal, guess what's for breakfast! French Toast!" We would both, my son and I, look forward to that special, weekly treat.

I began to formulate what has become a core philosophy, though: "You can't have a great day if you don't start with a great breakfast."
Toast and cold cereal might be nourishing to the body, but what about tantalizing the eyes, the taste buds... I had spent nearly twenty years working in commercial kitchens (yes, I ended up as an Executive Chef, but — no false modesty here — refer to my career as having been a "mercenary cook"), so those principles were familiar and essential to me; caught up in the utilitarian environment of early rising and preparing my son to go off to school, though, I never considered deploying them for a rudimentary breakfast.

But how long does French Toast take to make? A few minutes. So I began making it during the school week.
I was so proud of myself. And, ambitiously, I would, for variety, make pancakes some mornings, just so French Toast would never be tedious and ordinary. A few weeks of that, though, and my son (who was enjoying this exploration of a diverse breakfast menu) informed me that he didn't really care for pancakes. I can understand that, since I'm not all that fond of them myself.

I cast around for options, and rapidly hit upon pancakes without the leavening, flat pancakes... crêpes.
I looked into lots of recipes, but, being the kitchen experimenter (having made a career of playing with food, once upon a time), I developed my own.

crêpes the way I make them

• 1 C milk
• 1 C water
• 2 T sugar
• 1 t salt
• A slightly-heaping cup of flour
• 4 eggs

1. Put the milk, water, sugar and salt in a blender.
2. Turn the motor on and add the flour – not all at once, but not too slowly, either (you don’t want it to become foamy); run just until the flour is incorporated.
CRITICAL NOTE: Keep the lid on the blender when you turn it on; don't remove it until the goods within are safely spinning — THEN you can gently dump in the flour.
3. With the motor off, crack in the four eggs, and turn the motor on only long enough to incorporate the eggs nearly all the way (again, not too foamy).

Now you have the batter; here's the cooking procedure:

1. Pour the batter into a jar and heat up a pan (crêpe pan or 10” iron skillet) until it is very hot.
2. Swirl in a small piece of butter, about the size of a shelled filbert – I’ll use the spatula to coat the pan with butter, as if spackling holes in a wall.
3. Immediately add a scant 1/4 C of batter (actually a fifth of a cup – 50 ml) and tilt the pan to coat the bottom.
4. When the crêpe appears nearly dry on top, carefully flip it over and cook it for about ten seconds on the other side.
5. Remove it to a plate and start another crêpe.
6. Keep going until you have made as many crêpes as you need (the recipe will make nine or ten).

I frequently fill them with Ganache du Chocolat, which is easily made.
Ganache (guh-nosh) is the traditional chocolate glaze for a French cake, but I make it a bit softer for using in crêpes. Here’s how:

• » 3/4 lb. Chocolate chips (12 oz.; 340g; I try to use organic chips, which I get in bulk, but routinely use Ghirardelli 60% cocoa).
• » 1 pint cream

1. Slowly heat the cream, but not to boiling.
2. While it’s warming, add the chips and stir frequently.
3. When the chips are melted, raise the heat so the ganache nearly boils (but don’t let it), and then pour it into clean jars, screw lids on them right away, and put them in the refrigerator.

The recipe makes about thirty ounces, so I use three 12 oz. jars (when you open the jar, it will begin to spoil, so it’s best if your stash is divided among a few jars, refrigerated).
To use the ganache in a crêpe, just put a forkful of it in the crêpe as soon as it comes out of the pan. Fold the crêpe over the ganache-filled fork (to help it melt).
While you’re making the next crêpe, spread the ganache on half of the crêpe, fold it over, and roll it into a cone.
I make a plate of three of these, drizzle a bit of maple syrup over, sprinkle on some cinnamon, and serve them.

Sometimes, depending on what sort of jam is around, I might prepare a combination plate: chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, honey/cinnamon, chopped almonds, et cetera.

You can even put cheese (use Gruyère!) in the crêpes – the sugar is only in the batter to help them get that classic, dark brown. Here's a tip for that: throw some grated cheese in the crêpe and fold it over, holding it until you finish making as many as you need.
When it's time to serve them, throw some butter in the pan and sauté them for about twenty seconds on each side, to melt the cheese and give them a bit more of a brown.

Other options include displacing some of the milk and water with plain yogurt – say, a third of a cup or so, but still using two cups liquid in all (simply done – put the yogurt in the cup first, and add milk and water to make two cups).