How useful is a crêpe maker really?

Eating crêpes is great, making crêpes yourself is hell. Thin patties tear when you flip them, they’re either too brown or too pale, and by the time a nice one’s on your plate, the batter has already been used up. In short, making good ones takes practice and patience. And since I don’t have too much of the latter at least, I ordered an electric crêpe maker online, which promised me the perfect crêpes quickly and effortlessly. But is that really even possible?

A… thing from the internet

Let’s start with how this doodad looks. I definitely wouldn’t display this crêpe maker in my kitchen, in prime position next to my elegant oak knife block. The white plastic handle reminds me a little of a Stormtrooper’s uniform, and the plain finish literally screams Made in China. But hey, the brand name doesn’t always have to be embossed in gold lettering, right?

A rocky start

After studying the operating instructions carefully, I know how the device works. In theory. First, prepare a crêpe batter and pour it into the plastic soup plate thing provided. Done, easy. To make sure I didn’t do anything wrong, I followed the recipe in the instructions exactly.

Next step: plug in the crêpe maker and heat it up for three minutes. I’m growing less patient by the second. In Judith time, a three-minute wait is half an eternity and I’ve aged a good 20 years in the meantime. When the crêpe maker’s finally ready, my hair’s already grey – at least it feels that way.

Now, time to finally crêpe (is that how you say it? Eh, probably. At least that’s what I’ll use from now on). So, the Teflon side of the crêpe maker is now dipped into the batter for a few seconds until it sticks on nicely. Even at this early stage, I have doubts about the genius of the device. My first crêpe is so full of holes that it could just as easily be a wafer-thin kitchen sponge. Cinnamon-sugar or apple sauce fillings? No chance, better luck next time.

Nevertheless, I wait – impatiently – until the crêpe is ready. Maybe the next attempt will work out? Three more crap crêpes later, and I finally manage my first full-surface pancake using my little Stormtrooper. I’m overcome by an inspired feeling of success. The crêpe doesn’t even survive ten seconds on my plate before it’s devoured.

My many holes during the first attempts were probably due to the delicate layer of foam on the crêpe batter. And the fact that I simply had to soak my crêpe maker in the batter longer. But the more crêpes I make, the better and more beautiful they turn out.

Handling this thing

Once you get the hang of it, handling the crêpe maker is child’s play and you can actually make beautifully thin crêpes very easily. Granted, they’re only done on one side, but they’re still nice and thin. You can’t have everything. In order to make one successfully and without holes – I really want to emphasise this – it’s important that the crêpe batter doesn’t foam.

Here’s my main tip: prepare the batter a good 30 minutes beforehand so it can rest a little and the air bubbles can settle. The weight distribution between the handle and the Teflon frying surface shouldn’t be underestimated either. The longer I work and the longer I hold the appliance in my hand, the heavier it becomes. They should include warnings about tennis elbow and tendinitis on the packaging.

Want a video review? Take a look here (for English subtitles, go to Settings > Subtitles/CC > Auto-translate):

Pros and cons

One advantage of the crêpe maker is that even people who aren’t very good in the kitchen can manage beautiful wafer-thin crêpes. It really is that easy. Granted, the crêpes will only brown on one side since they can’t be flipped in the appliance. You could probably finish them in a non-stick frying pan…