Sweet Crepe Recipe

A thin, buttery sweet crêpe recipe along with all my professional tips for making paper-thin crêpes with crispy edges. Use this 6-ingredient crêpes recipe for dessert crepes, breakfast crepes, or mille crepe cake!  

Ever since visiting France, I could not get those perfect butter and sugar crêpes out of my mind! I have been trying to recreate their perfect thin buttery crepes for a while now. I wanted them to have that crisp edge and tender texture. And I have finally created the perfect sweet crêpes recipe. 

The perfect crêpe is a labor of love, but so worth it, trust me! But I totally feel you if you’re looking for an easier breakfast or brunch that will still impress, so may I suggest these lazy Sunday buttermilk waffles or whole wheat pancakes. Maybe you want to up the ante a bit, head right over to this cinnamon roll recipe with cream cheese icing.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Whole Milk: Whole milk adds fat to the batter. You can substitute any milk alternative you prefer. 
• Butter: You want the melted butter to be warm, not hot, when mixing it into the batter to keep it from solidifying. 
• All-purpose Flour: All-purpose flour has the perfect amount of gluten to hold the batter together without making a tough crêpe. 
• Cake Flour: Adding cake flour to the batter ensures a light and tender crêpe. If you don’t have cake flour, you can use all-purpose, just be careful not to overmix the batter, and I recommend letting it sit overnight. 
• Water: I use tap water because NYC tap water is of the highest quality, but if you know your water is hard, you can use bottled or distilled water. 

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations for Sweet Crêpe Fillings

• You can make savory crepes. Fill them with ham and gruyère cheese while still on the stove. Make it lox by adding cream cheese, smoked salmon, and onions. You could even do easy caramelized onions, mushrooms and blue cheese. Maybe add some protein with cottage cheese or a dash of sweetness with maple syrup.
• Lemon Crepes. Fill cooled crepes with easy lemon curd, or this lemon curd whipped cream recipe, and add your favorite fresh fruit.  
• Add your favorite jams. You can layer in your favorite jams like this easy strawberry jam recipe, mixed berry jam or this easy peach preserves recipe. I would like to add a bit of homemade whipped cream for some extra creamy goodness to balance the jam. 
• Pie filling! Why not make a pie crepe! You can layer in some apple pie filling recipe, cherry pie filling, or take the filling from this blueberry pie recipe! Serve it warm with some vanilla bean ice cream! 

How to Make This Sweet Crêpe Recipe

Use these instructions to make these perfect French crêpes every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Prepare the crêpe batter:

Step 1: Whisk eggs and milk. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, salt, milk, and melted butter. 

Step 2: Add flours and water. Slowly whisk in the flours, adding a little at a time like popovers. Whisk the water into the large mixing bowl last (photos 1 & 2). 

The batter will have a very liquid consistency. Thick batter makes thick crêpes. 

Step 3: Let the batter sit refrigerated overnight or for at least an hour at room temperature. This allows the flour to hydrate properly and any gluten to relax (a wet batter also helps reduce gluten formation even while sitting overnight). 

Cooking crepes: 

If you refrigerated your batter, remove it from the fridge about an hour before you plan to start cooking. 

Step 4: Preheat a crêpe pan or nonstick skillet over medium heat. Slow and steady wins the race here.

Step 5: Butter the pan once. Using a fork, stab a piece of butter and quickly butter the pan. You only need to do this for the first crepe. You can use a small amount of vegetable oil if you prefer. I just find butter works better (photo 3).

Step 6: Pour and swirl thin layer. Pour in a ladle (just shy of 4 ounces) into the center of the pan with one hand and swirl the pan in a circular motion using the other to distribute the batter around evenly. 

I found the crepe spreader to be a tricky tool to master, and there really is no need. Plus, to use it, you need to more closely monitor the temperature of the pan because if it is just a little too hot, the batter will set before you can spread it, but if it’s too cool, it’ll just slide around. If you fuss with it too much, the batter will stick to the crepe spreader. 

Step 7: Cook first side until golden. Cook over medium-low heat on the first side until the edges begin to brown and you can see some browner spots showing through near the center. The outer edge is an excellent barometer for readiness. For me, it took 6 minutes for a 12-inch crepe. 

Step 8: Flip by sliding the spatula underneath the center of the crepe and flipping it over like a pancake. If it folds, just unfold it. If you flip it too early and it’s blonde, flip it back. Don’t stress. (photo 4)

Step 9: Continue to cook on the second side for an additional 1-2 minutes. 

It feels like it takes FOREVER, but anyone who has waited for a freshly made crêpe in Paris knows that c’est normal. 

Step 10: Cool. Remove the crepe and transfer to a wire rack to cool, or add the toppings and serve warm! 

Step 11: Repeat with the remaining batter and stack the crepes once they cool completely. 

To assemble & plate sweet crêpes:

Recipe FAQs

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this French crêpe recipe. Check out our other delicious breakfast recipes like these sourdough cinnamon rolls or these banana protein muffins!