Every February 2nd, since the middle age in France,we have been celebrating the Chandeleur, or Candlemas. La Chandeleur, or Fete De la Lumiere, is a very fun day for the kids.
Not only do they eat a lot of crêpes, but they also can practice a fun game of fortune telling while making them. It is traditional to hold a coin in your write hand and a crêpe pan in the other, and flip the crêpe into the air. If you manage to catch the crêpe in the pan, your family will be prosperous for the rest of the year.
Like the Groundhog Day in the US, the Chandeleur have all kind of proverbs:
"A la Chandeleur, l'hiver cesse ou prend vigueur"= on Candlemas, winter ends or strengthens
"Quand le soleil de la Chandeleur fait lanterne, quarante jours apres il hiverne..." = when the soleil is hidden, forty days later the winter is hibernating
"Chandeleur couverte, quarante jours de perte" = Candlemas covered (in snow), forty days lost
My recipe for 20 crepes:
1 3/4 cups of flour
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (not olive oil because the taste is too strong)
4 eggs
1,5 cups of milk
0.5 cup of water (a little bit more if batter too thick)
Mix first all the dry ingredients, then add the oil and the eggs one by one, then the liquid little by little to obtain a smooth batter with no lumps.
Let the batter rest for a while.
Then take a "crepiere" (a shallow non stick pan). Order at amazon.com
Warm the pan on hot burner, then with a brush put some oil, then with a ladle, pour the batter slowly in the middle while turning the pan to make sure the batter slide all over the surface of the pan. Let it cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Using a spatula, flip the crepe over and cook for 1 to 2 minutes
Add Nutella, sugar or jam in the middle and roll them to serve.
And now a little poem for your kids...