When Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield went looking for a loan to start their first ice cream store in Burlington, Vermont, the future fathers of Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia were told by a local banker that they'd need to serve something other than just ice cream to make it through the lean winter months. So they sold crepes stuffed with ice cream and doused with hot fudge sauce. "Talk about comfort food," says Cohen, who wasn't above snitching occasional leftovers as they came through the kitchen. "They were great—an amazing synergy of crepe, ice cream and sauce."
This recipe, which features luscious cooked pears in addition to ice cream, yields a few extra crepes. Cool and stack the leftovers, separating them with sheets of plastic wrap; then place them in a resealable plastic bag and freeze for later use. Or rewarm the crepes and serve with jam or maple syrup for breakfast the next morning.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Combine milk, flour, eggs, sugar and salt in blender. Blend until smooth, occasionally scraping down sides of blender, about 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon melted butter and blend 30 seconds. Cover and refrigerate crepe batter in blender container at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours. Reblend batter 15 seconds.
Step 2
Heat nonstick skillet with 8-inch-diameter bottom over medium-high heat. Brush with melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup batter into skillet, tilting skillet quickly to coat bottom evenly. Cook until top of crepe appears dry and bottom is golden, loosening edges of crepe with spatula, about 45 seconds. Turn crepe over; cook until brown spots appear on bottom, about 30 seconds. Transfer to plate. Top with plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with more butter as needed, layering cooked crepes between sheets of plastic wrap. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic; chill.)
Step 3
Preheat broiler. Brush baking sheet with melted butter. Place 1 crepe on prepared baking sheet. Place 3 slices of warm Brown Sugar Pears side by side on one quarter of crepe, allowing pear slices to extend slightly over edge of crepe. Fold crepe in half over pear slices. Place 3 more pear slices on crepe above first 3 slices. Fold crepe in half over pears, forming triangular shape. Repeat with 5 crepes and pear slices. Brush crepes with some of cooking liquid from pears.
Step 4
Broil crepes just until heated through and golden, watching closely to avoid burning, about 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer to plates. Arrange any remaining pear slices atop crepes. Spoon pear cooking liquid over. Place scoop of ice cream alongside. Drizzle with warm Fudge Sauce. Serve, passing remaining sauce separately.
