Mexican Caramel Crepes – Crepas de cajeta

In my previous post, I shared a recipe for savoury crepes with a Mexican classic filling of mushrooms. This time, I am preparing sweet crepes, with cajeta – Mexican goat’s milk caramel. Milk, as well as sugar, the basic ingredients of cajeta, were introduced in Mexico during colonial times, when the Spaniards brought livestock from Europe, and sugar cane from South Asia.  For milk sources, even obstreperous goats found a suitable environment, and became well adjusted to the mountainous regions of the Mexican landscape, which includes Celaya, the hometown of cajeta. The pairing with crepes became a dessert that was trending at restaurants in Mexico for a good part of the mid- and late-20th century.

In culinary parlance, other caramel sauces such as dulce de leche (cow’s milk caramel) might seem like a valid substitution for cajeta, but the characteristic flavour of cajeta, deep and rich from the goat’s milk, begs to try and keep the recipe intact; I have shared a story and recipe for homemade cajeta, and nowadays it is becoming easier to find jars at specialty stores or online.

Mexican Caramel Crepes – Crepas de cajeta

Ingredients

Basic Sweet Crepes
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tbsp granulated sugar
3 tbsp butter; melted, plus more butter for cooking

Goat’s Milk Caramel Sauce
1 cup cajeta – Mexican goat’s milk caramel (homemade or from jar)
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla, optional

Icing sugar, from sprinkling

Prepare sauce: Mix all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat (photo below, left), just until well incorporated, and the sauce starts to gently bubble (photo below, right):

Remove from heat, and reserve.

Prepare crepes: In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk (photo below, left); incorporate milk and continue mixing (photo below, centre). Pour in melted butter, and whisk to incorporate (photo below, right):

Continue mixing while slowly adding flour and granulated sugar, sifting through a mesh to avoid clumps (photo below, left). The resulting batter looks runny and bubbly (photo below, right):

Warm up an eight inch frying pan over medium heat; add a dab of butter, spreading and removing excess with a paper towel (photo below, right). Pour two tablespoons of batter, tilting the pan to quickly spread the batter all over the surface of the pan (photo below, right):

Wait until the batter forms tiny bubbles and the edge becomes wavy (photo below, left). Release the crepe by running a thin spatula around the edge (photo below, right):

Flip the pan over a plate, to drop the crepe onto the plate. Continue cooking the batter, greasing the pan as before after cooking three to four crepes. Makes approximately twenty crepes:

Cover, to keep warm.

Plate: Fold crepes in half, then fold in half again, for a quarter-circle shape, as the crepe at the top of the pile in the photo above. Arrange two folded crepes in a dessert plate (photo below, left). Drizzle about two tablespoons of caramel sauce on top (photo below, centre).  Continue plating two crepes per portion, as needed, sprinkling with icing sugar right before serving (photo below, right):

Enjoy while warm:

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