Crazy for Crepes

Thinking about some new ideas for middle school labs got me to thinking about a lab I did early in my teaching career when I taught a foreign foods cooking class.   At the time we were studying French cuisine and the lab was making homemade CREPES.   Initially I was intimidated by crepes because they looked too difficult and fancy, but after working through some demonstrations with my students I found they really were a lot easier to prepare than they looked!  Crepes are basically really thin, delicate pancakes filled with a sweet or savory filling.  Since I know teenagers love desserts and chocolate is a favorite filling, I thought I would explore a recipe that would combine the two popular ingredients  along with fruit and work a creative crepe lab back into the curriculum.

Time Frame:  3 Periods (43 minutes)

Class Size:  16

National Standards

  • 14.1.2  Analyze the effects of psychological, cultural, and social influences on food choices and other nutrition practices.
  • 14.3.3  Demonstrate ability to select, store, prepare, and serve nutritious and aesthetically pleasing foods.

Materials

  • SMARTBOARD or Screen & Projector
  • Laptops
  • Play-Doh
  • Ingredients for Lab

Set

  • Write the word CREPES on the board and ask the following as a bell ringer:  How do you pronounce the word, what is it and what do you do with it?  I always get a kick out of the responses I get especially the pronunciation.
  • Share with students:  the pronunciations are kreps or crapes (like grapes), they are a type of pancake and you cook it, fill it and eat it!

Activities

Days 1 & 2

  • Using the laptops and suggested websites, students will learn more about crepes by completing the “Crazy for Crepes Scavenger Hunt” (linked below).
  • To learn more about crepe cookery, have students view the “Crepe Expectations” of Good Eats with Alton Brown available on Amazon for a minimal fee.
  • After the video, give each student a small wad of Play-Doh and demonstrate and practice how to do the various folds shown in the below illustration (which I would put up on the SMARTBOARD or screen for students to view while we practice).

Day 3

  • Prepare and serve Nutella Banana Crepes in the lab.
  1. Mix ingredients to make the batter.
  2. Cook the crepes.
  3. Fill the crepes with Nutella and sliced bananas & fold
  4. Garnish the crepes with drizzled chocolate and powdered sugar
  5. Enjoy!

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