Eats Writes Shoots

Living & Tasting Life's Passions

  • Home
  • Eats
    • Beer
      • Hopped & Bothered Reviews
      • Beer Reviews
        • Amber/Red Ale
        • Bitter
        • Blonde
        • Brown Ale
        • Farmhouse (Saison)
        • Pale Ale
          • India Pale Ale (IPA)
          • Double (Imperial) IPA
          • Imperial Black IPA
          • American Pale Ale
          • English Pale Ale
        • Lager
        • Scotch Ale
        • Seasonal and/or Specialty
          • Beer with Fruit
        • Stout
          • Imperial Stout
          • Milk Stout
        • Wheat Ale
        • Winter Beers
    • My CSA Challenge – 2013 Edition
    • Recipes
      • Appetizers
      • Breakfast
      • Baking
        • Dessert
          • Cookies
      • Drinks and Cocktails
      • Egg
      • Fish
      • Gluten-Free
      • Lunch
      • Mains
        • Asian
          • Thai
        • Barbecue/Grilling
        • Beef
        • Fusion
        • Greek
        • Italian
        • Lamb
        • Mediterranean
        • Mexican
        • Pasta
        • Pork
        • Poultry
        • Veal
        • Vegetarian
      • Preserves
      • Salad
      • Side Dish
      • Soup
  • Writes
    • Canadian Food Experience Project
    • Poetry
    • The “Benjamin” Project
  • Shoots
  • About the Author
You are here: Home / Baking / Crêpes with Caramelized Bananas (Gluten-Free)

Crêpes with Caramelized Bananas (Gluten-Free)

October 26, 2013 by Dale 4 Comments

Gluten-Free Caramelized Banana CrepesEvery week I race the slow but inevitable decline of the bunch of bananas I buy on the weekend. Every week I get two perfect bananas followed by two almost perfectly riper bananas followed by the predictable decline into a culinary argument of “Is this too ripe to eat?”

Every week, some end up in the freezer to become cookies (see Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies) or to become smoothies. Convinced there is a lot more I could be doing with ripe bananas, this past weekend I decided to marshal my wits and tackle this cycle of decay.

With my recent success of gluten-free pumpkin pancakes in my rearview mirror, I had ‘pancakes’ on the brain and so when Sunday morning arrived, and further inspired by my pile of ripe bananas, I made the decision to move onto my next challenge: the gluten-free crêpe. I’ll admit that the notion of crêpes and bananas wasn’t a big stretch, but the challenge was to see if I could pull off a gluten-free version of the crêpe. And so a decadent and perfect breakfast meal was born as  I moved my pile of chips to the centre of the table, and I was all-in. Let’s do this.

The crêpe isn’t really a difficult thing to make and because it is mostly a “flat-bread,” it also seemed perfectly suited to a sans gluten creation. My first experience with making real, European crêpes came almost 20 years to the day (god, does that make feel old now) when, living in China, and a Hungarian sinology student came over to my place to teach me. Her secret was using carbonated water in the process. Personally, I’ve always preferred milk in the pancakes but the notion of using ‘natural’ carbonation to bring a hint of fluffiness to the French pancake always stuck, so my cooking tip in this case is to use a pinch of baking powder instead (note: baking soda won’t work without an acid to activate it). In terms of gluten-free flours, I chose a few with strong flavour and a few with a bit more starch (for strength) which is also why I added in a smidgen of xantham gum. As you can see from the picture, the result was a substantial, airy, and whole pancake that you could flip, roll, and fill. What more could you ask for, really? Oh, they tasted great too.

The filling? Simple again. The inspiration was to work with the sugars in the ripe banana and caramelize them in butter and, then, as they start to break down ever so slightly and start to thicken the butter, build up a flavourful and thick butterscotch around them. I have to say, this banana filling was pure sin and pure enjoyment … god it was good!

The only ‘failure’ of the dish in my honest opinion was the presentation. I probably should have had whipped cream, crème anglaise, or even just icing sugar on the outside to provide some contrast. Truthfully, though, while this would have improved the look and feel, it would have been purely an aesthetic addition. This dish didn’t need anything else and certainly didn’t need more carbs, but if you want to go all in yourself, by all means, go all in. You can’t go wrong ….

Wishing you all a decadent and lovely weekend breakfast or brunch. Enjoy.

Prep time:   15 minutes
Cook time:  30 minutes
Total Time:  45 minutes
Servings:     6 crêpes

Crêpes with Caramelized Bananas (Gluten-Free)

Gluten-Free Crepe Batter:

  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1-2 tablespoons light oil
  • ¼ cup chick pea flour
  • ¼ cup buckwheat
  • ¼ cup rice flour
  • 1 tablespoon potato flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • pinch baking powder
  • ¼ tsp xantham gum

Banana Filling IngredientsCaramelized Banana Filling:

  • 3-4 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2″ (1cm) thick rounds
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • ¼cup butter
  • ¼ cup whipping cream
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ teaspoon

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Prepare the crêpe batter by first sifting together all the flours and dry ingredients into medium bowl.Mix Crepe Dry Ingredients
  2. In mixing bowl, add the eggs and beat until fluffy.Beat the crêpe eggs
  3. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until frothy.add milk till frothy
  4. Slowly sprinkle in the dry flour ingredients and ‘mix’ until incorporated.Add flour to Crêpes
  5. Mix until all flour is incorporated and the the mixture has enough shape to drizzle from a spatula but isn’t too thin to be ‘watery.’ Let batter stand while you make the bananas to allow flours to relax and mixture to absorb liquid. Crêpe batter
  6. Make the caramelized bananas now by first slicing the bananas into 1/2-inch (1cm) slices. Heat butter in a pan over medium-high heat. When temperature is reached, add the bananas to butter and carefully mix around to cover all the slices with the butter.Add bananas to hot butter
  7. Fry the bananas stirring every few minutes until they start to caramelize. Bananas will also start to ‘cream’ at this point as they enter the butter. (This is a good thing.)caramelize bananas
  8. Add the brown sugar now and gently mix it in.caramelize bananas with brown sugar
  9. Add the cream and gently stir.caramelize bananas with cream
  10. Cook over medium heat until butterscotch starts to thicken around the bananas (5-10 minutes). Remove from heat and let stand.caramelized bananas in butterscotch
  11. Return to your crêpe batter now. If it has thickened up too much again, add a tablespoon of milk until right consistency has been reached.
  12. Preheat oven to ‘warming’ temperature (e.g. 125-150ºF).
  13. Heat your crêpe pan (if you have one) or any non-stick pan with low edges that you can swirl. Temperature will be reached when a small splash or drop of water ‘dances’ or bounces off the pan when dropped. Add 1/2 teaspoon of light cooking oil (e.g. avocado oil or grape seed oil would work well) or so to the pan and spread it around to coat.Heat Oil in Crepe Pan
  14. Ladle in about 1/4-cup of batter into the pan and using your wrist twirl the pan to allow the batter to evenly spread around the pan. You have to do this quickly or the crêpes will cook too thick. Cook the Crepe on One Side
    → This is a learned technique that will come with practice, so give yourself time.
  15. You’ll know the crêpe is ready to turn when the edges start to dry out and even lift from the edge of the pan, but this will only take about 1-2 minutes. Using a thin spatula/flipper, work your way under the edge and flip. If you’re really good and you have an excellent well-oiled pan, you’ll be able to do this without tools. Edge of the Crepe Ready
  16. Cook on the other side not more than 30 seconds or so. You’re only ‘drying’ it out so that it doesn’t stick and is cooked through.Crepe Ready
  17. Place the crêpe on a plate in the oven to keep warm while you repeat to cook the remaining crêpes.
  18. When done, place a crêpe on serving plate, brown-side down, and spoon warm banana-butterscotch sauce (make sure you’re even in your distribution) into the the centre. Carefully roll it up and repeat with remaining crêpes are filled. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, icing sugar, whipped cream, or nothing at all. Enjoy while still warm.Gluten-Free Banana Crepe Plated

Gluten-Free Banana Crepe Eaten

Share this:

  • Share
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Filed Under: Baking, Breakfast, Eats, Gluten-Free, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: Banana, breakfast, butterscotch, Caramelized, Cooking, Crêpes, food, Gluten-Free, pancake, Recipe, ripe banana, vegetarian

« Sweet Ginger-Garlic Chicken Wings
Potato Leek Soup — Inside Out »

Comments

  1. Redawna says

    October 27, 2013 at 11:54 pm

    Damn I wish I had some bananas, I’d make a batch of that filling right now and feast!
    Love the idea of gluten free crepes and my first thought is too use coconut flour. It has amazing flavor and would work well with the bananas.

    Reply
    • Dale says

      October 28, 2013 at 10:20 am

      Thank you. The filling is truly divine — not the sort of thing we should fall in love with but then life is too short not to find true love in crepe.

      … and, yes, you’re right, coconut flour would be a good substitute in the crepe batter as well. Would provide a very complimentary flavour. I’m just careful of using it in some things because it is much more ‘tolerant’ to liquid and I wanted to make sure the crepes stayed thin. Definitely worth trying, though, another time. Thanks. 🙂

      Reply
  2. jessicainsideout says

    October 26, 2013 at 8:16 pm

    These sound wonderful! Crepes are one of my favourite foods, having grown up eating Hungarian crepes (palascinta) as dessert, with a filling made from ground walnuts, sugar and milk. Our family recipe doesn’t use carbonated water either. The caramelized banana filling sounds delicious! You’ve inspired crepes for tomorrow’s breakfast! :0)

    Reply
    • Dale says

      October 28, 2013 at 10:24 am

      Truly a weekend a highlight. Thank you for the compliment and sharing your own experience with crepes growing up. You’re right — my Hungarian friend was all about them as a dessert. As I recall we filled them with something like a chocolate pudding/custard which she claimed was part of her own family tradition. Such a versatile dish but we a lot of fun with these decadent bananas in them, that’s for sure ….

      Reply

I would love to read your comments ....Cancel reply

30 Poems in 30 Days – Global Poetry Writing Month (2022)

  • A Love Song

    A Love Song
  • Chosen

    Chosen
  • Wormwood

    Wormwood
  • Bashert

    Bashert
  • Lumber Dog

    Lumber Dog
  • Aisling for the Land

    Aisling for the Land
  • Hard Boiled Boy

    Hard Boiled Boy
  • The Blasted

    The Blasted
  • Sense of Time

    Sense of Time
  • We Reflect

    We Reflect
  • A Family Grown

    A Family Grown
  • Fly — Away

    Fly — Away
  • Curtains

    Curtains
  • A Question Heard

    A Question Heard
  • The Storm

    The Storm
  • A Dis-Ode to the Mushoom

    A Dis-Ode to the Mushoom
  • Bun in the Oven

    Bun in the Oven
  • The world don’t owe you nothing

    The world don’t owe you nothing
  • the syrphid

    the syrphid
  • Osborne

    Osborne
  • Love is not a Word

    Love is not a Word
  • Meta

    Meta
  • Super-Pop

    Super-Pop
  • footprints on the sands of time

    footprints on the sands of time
  • Spring Grows

    Spring Grows
  • Neptune’s Recline

    Neptune’s Recline
  • Red Light, Green Light, Stop

    Red Light, Green Light, Stop
  • Wuthering Heights

    Wuthering Heights
  • Afterwinter

    Afterwinter
  • The Story of a Dog

    The Story of a Dog

Recent Posts

  • A Love Song
  • Chosen
  • Wormwood
  • Bashert
  • Lumber Dog

Join My Community

Simply enter your email address and never miss another post.

Join 827 other subscribers

2012-2022 © Dale Schierbeck.

All rights reserved. All material and content is the original property of Dale Schierbeck and “EatsWritesShoots” 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited. Links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author (“Dale Schierbeck”) and the site (“EatsWritesShoots”) and with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Connect with Me on Facebook

Connect with Me on Facebook

Top Posts & Pages

  • Recipe for Low-Phosphorus Dog Food ~ Caring for a Dog with Chronic Renal Failure
  • Homemade Super Dog Food ... aka Ben's Breakfast
  • Tuscan Chicken with Olives and Bacon ... and Wine
  • Duck Breast with Blackberry and Chambord Sauce
  • My Canadian Eyesight

Join the Conversation

  • mb on Ben ~ In Memoriam
  • Dale on Ground Beef Tacos
  • Nicholas Robert Parkes on Ground Beef Tacos
  • Molly on Recipe for Low-Phosphorus Dog Food ~ Caring for a Dog with Chronic Renal Failure
  • Dale on Chosen

RSS Feeds

RSS feed RSS - Posts

RSS feed RSS - Comments

Archives

Categories

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d