One of my mother’s all time favorite breakfast foods were Spanish crepes called Fiyuelos. As a child, she’d beg her mother (my grandmother Josephine) to make these thin, flat crepes for her and her cousin Sandra on the weekends. The girls would wait patiently as Abuelamom heated up butter in a cast-iron skillet and whisked together the simple ingredients: eggs, flour, salt, sugar, milk, rum extract, melted butter.
Abuelamom would cook stacks of these thin pancakes, and as they cooled, Sandra and my mom would roll them up and then dip them in more melted butter and granulated sugar. No fruit. No syrup. Just simple deliciousness.
It was my turn to choose recipes for month of June for the Gutsy Cooks Club. I wanted to get even Gutsier in the kitchen by starting off with these crepes. I can remember my mother reminiscing fondly of her mother cooking these for her, and would often mention the recipe being in the cookbook Clarita’s Cocina. I just so happened to have my grandmother’s copy of the book and was so happy when I found the recipe tucked inside. If I had known how simple these were to make, I would have made them for my mom more often.
I halved the recipe found in the book and came out with about 6 skillet-sized fiyuelos. Just like my mother, I rolled them up, dabbled them with pats of butter, and sprinkled them with sugar. They were delicious, and as I ate them, I thought about my mother and how I wished she could be here standing in the kitchen, enjoying these with me.
I hope there are unlimited amounts of fiyuelos available in heaven.
Fiyuelos (serves 2-4)
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. melted butter
- 2 tsp. rum extract (optional)
Combine flour, sugar and salt together. Set aside. Whisk eggs and flour mixture together until combined. Slowly add milk and water. Continue to whisk. Add melted butter and rum extract. Over medium heat, melt butter. Lift up pan and gently pour 3/4 cup of the batter onto the hot pan in a circular pattern. As you pour, turn the pan and let the batter coat the entire pan. Cook for about a minute on each side, or until golden brown; flipping the crepe in between.
Have you ever made fiyuelos? Steph 🙂
