Flambéed crepes with cherries and mascarpone

Ingredients:

Filling

• 450 g mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup fine chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sugar
• A pinch of ground cinnamon

Sauce

• 450 g cherries, pitted and cut in half
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 Meyer lemon, zested and juiced
• A little water
• 8 plain pancakes, recipe below
• 1/4 cup kirsch (cherry vodka) for flambéing

Simple pancakes

• 1 cup flour
• A pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sparkling water
• 3 tbsp (45 g) butter

Preparation:

1. For the filling. In a small bowl, combine the mascarpone, chocolate chips, sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon. If making 2 hours in advance, refrigerate, but let it come to room temperature before serving.
2. For the sauce. Place a small saucepan over medium heat and combine the cherries, sugar, lemon zest and juice, and a splash of water. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until the cherries release their juices and become fragrant. The cherries in the finished sauce should be very sweet, and the juice should resemble a syrup. Turn off the heat.
3. Fill the pancakes. Spread the chocolate and mascarpone mixture onto the bottom half of the crepe to a thickness of about 6 mm. Fold the top half over the bottom half to form a semicircle and press down. Fold the crepe in half again, forming a loose triangle. Repeat with the remaining 7 crepes.
4. Heat the saucepan with the cherry sauce over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Be careful not to burn the sauce. Pour the kirsch into a measuring cup with a spout and carefully pour it into the cherry sauce. Turn off the heat and carefully ignite the mixture with a long lighter. Let the flame burn out.
5. For serving Place 2 crepes on each serving plate and spoon flambéed cherries on top.

6. Pancakes

   
   
   For the test: Place flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add eggs, milk, sparkling water, and 3 tablespoons of melted butter to the center and whisk until combined. The mixture should resemble very thin pancake batter. If it's too thick, stir in more milk. Let the batter rest for at least 30 minutes before frying the pancakes.
7. For pancakes. In a small nonstick saucepan, melt 1/2 teaspoon of butter. It should cover the bottom of the pan; if there's too much butter, blot away any excess with a paper towel. Keep the towel handy—you'll need it again.
8. Place a saucepan over medium heat. Fill a 60 ml ladle almost to the top with batter and pour it into the heated pan, tilting and swirling it to coat the bottom evenly. This takes some practice—even if you're experienced at frying pancakes, the first few will always turn out poorly. Don't worry, just keep cooking.
9. When the edges of the pancake begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and the bottom is lightly browned, flip the pancake and cook for about 1 minute on the other side. Transfer the pancake to a plate and let cool. Stack the finished pancakes on top of each other, separating them with sheets of parchment paper. Repeat the process with all the batter, melting more butter in the pan or blotting off any excess with a towel if necessary. Yield: 18 pancakes.