Ricotta-filled Nutella-Chocolate Crepes
with Sour Cherry Preserves and Hazelnuts
Mary Karlin, Elements of Taste
Makes 12 dessert crepes
Crepe Batter:
1½ cups flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups + ¼ cup whole milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons + ¼ cup butter, melted
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Filling and Topping:
1 ½ cups Nutella hazelnut-cocoa spread
2 cups fresh, drained ricotta
1 ½ cups sour cherry or red raspberry preserves, warmed
1 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl or in a blender, whisk together 2 cups of the milk, the eggs, 2 tablespoons of the butter and the vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients to the blended liquid one-third at a time and blend until smooth. Repeat, adding the rest of the dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes or overnight. When ready to use, whisk the batter thoroughly and add the additional milk (up to ¼ cup) if the batter is thicker than a runny pancake batter.
Preheat a 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Brush the bottom with melted butter. While on heat, ladle enough batter (about ¼-1/3 cup) into the pan just to cover the bottom. Immediately lift the pan off heat and move batter around to cover bottom as though you were making an omelette. Cook until the edges start to look dry but not crispy and a few steam holes appear in the center (approximately 1 minute). This tells you that there’s enough structure to the pancake to be able to flip it over.
Using an offset spatula, turn the crepe over and cook for about half a minute. Slide the crepe from the pan onto a plate. Continue the process, first brushing the pan with melted butter. Stack the crepes until all the batter is used. (Crepes can be made a day ahead, stacked with plastic wrap between each and refrigerated in a zip lock bag. They will keep refrigerated for 1 week or kept frozen for about 1 month. Warm before using.)
Spread one-half of each open crepe with 2 tablespoons Nutella. Crumble or spread ricotta over the Nutella. Fold the plain half over the filled half and then fold again into a quarter-sized pie shape. Place on a serving plate, top with the preserves and garnish with chopped hazelnuts.
