“There’s a rule of thumb that the first time you make crepes it’s going to be an unmitigated disaster,” says Julie Powell, author of Julia & Julie: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. “But if you keep on keeping on, you’ll eventually get the hang of it.” Don’t get discouraged. Just consider the first (or 12th) crepe as a test-run.

Crepes
Adapted from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Ingredients
1 cup cold water
1 cup cold milk
4 eggs
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups flour (scooped and leveled)
4 tablespoons melted butter
Cooking oil (for greasing pan)

Tools
Blender
Rubber spatula
Iron skillet or crepe pan
Ladle or ¼ cup measure
Pastry brush

Pate a crepes (crepe batter)

Put the liquids, eggs and salt into the blender jar. Add the flour, then the butter. Cover and blend at top speed for 1 minute. If bits of flour adhere to sides of jar, dislodge with a rubber scraper and blend for 2 to 3 seconds more. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Note: The batter should be a very light cream, just thick enough to coat a wooden spoon. If, after making your first crepe, it seems too heavy, beat in a bit of water, a spoonful at a time. Your crepe should be about 1/16 inch thick.

To make crepes

Brush the skillet lightly with oil. Set over moderately high heat until the pan is just beginning to smoke.

Immediately remove from heat and pour a scant ¼ cup of batter into the middle of the pan. Quickly tilt the pan in all directions to run the batter all over the bottom of the pan in a thin film. (Pour any batter that does not adhere to the pan back into your bowl.)