Neo-Classic (Vegan) Crepes with Pear-Walnut Filling

My experiments with vegan cooking and baking continue! This is a recipe I've tried in both sweet and savoury styles and it goes really well either way. Besan/gram flour/chickpea flour is an excellent egg replacer in a lot of things, and also helps give an eggy flavour/colour as well. It's also nutritious, so. 

I'm a legume lover in any context (and chickpeas are one of my faves) so this recipe was a natural choice. While it doesn't taste anything like chickpeas (probably for the best here) it's absolutely fantastic. 

I modulated the recipe to suit a sweet filling with some vanilla soy milk on top of the water, vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of sugar. I added a spoon of flaxseed meal just because I love it so, and also because it tends to help along the binding of egg-free baked goods et cetera. The potato starch is mostly responsible for that here, however- so you can skip it if you aren't as enthusiastic about flax as me.

Try substituting half the wheat flour for buckwheat for something different. I made them that way in the savoury manner with some vegan cheese and herb-roasted cherry tomatoes and it was delicious. Really, anything you'd put in a standard crepe goes. Here I tried a filling of diced pears, spices and walnuts that's worth a shot since they're in season, and tastes a bit like an autumn pie filling. Nice.

Now for the caveats- it took me a good two practically-inedible misfolds of crepes to get the heat and oil level just right, so don't give up. Try thinning the batter, or lowering/increasing the heat, until you get them to not stick and also cook nice and evenly. Take your time- they go really fast once you get it right, even faster than regular crepes. I made mine a bit on the small side, too, so that they'd be less likely to tear- but I made a couple of big ones and they were just fine. 

I plan to try further variations, maybe with a pseudo-cheese filling using vegan cream cheese, apricots, and so on. I made some with a sour cherry-apricot jam mix and it went well, but a little cheesy action never hurt anyone. 

Neo-Classic Crepes
Adapted from the Bean by Bean: a Cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon

1 TBSP Flaxseed meal (optional)
2 TBSP Potato starch
1 TBSP Oil, either neutral or with a nice flavour (like olive or nut oil)
about 2 2/3-3 C. water (I used 2 2/3 C. water and 1/3 C. soy milk)
1/2 C. Chickpea flour/besan
2 C. AP flour (I used 1 1/2 C. of AP white flour and 1/2 C. graham flour)

2 Tsp. Vanilla extract and 1 TBSP sugar, if making sweet
1/2 Tsp. Salt (increase to 1 Tsp. if making savoury)

Oil and/or melted vegan butter, to fry

Pulse potato starch, flaxseed meal, oil and salt with 2/3 C. of water in a blender or food processor.
Add the flours, sugar and vanilla (if using), and an additional 2 C. water and blend until completely smooth. Keep adding water (I used vanilla soy milk here) until the consistency is of thin/table cream.

Use right away or refrigerate for up to a week. (I refrigerated it overnight, which I think helps relax the gluten.) When ready to cook, use a cast iron or nonstick pan. Heat to medium high and once hot, add a small amount of oil. Pour some batter onto the oiled pan and tilt to spread around. Cook until the surface no longer looks "wet", then flip. After another 15-30 seconds, take off the pan and place onto a plate to be filled.

Pear-Walnut Filling
Note: this is enough for about half of the above batch of crepes. Make more as you see fit.

5 Small pears, peeled, cored and diced
2 TBSP Sugar
1 Tsp. Vegan butter (optional)
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
Generous pinch of cloves
Small handful of walnuts, crumbled to bits

Heat the sugar, spices and vegan butter (if using) on medium-high. Add the pears and mix well. Stir to coat evenly in sugar-spice mixture and cook on medium-high until the juices released are thickened. Add walnut pieces and vanilla and take off heat, covering with a lid, and leave for 5-10 minute to soften while you work on the crepes.