Crab apple and cheese crepes, anise-flavoured syrup

Crepes

1. Prepare the crepe dough by whisking all the ingredients together. Let stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. Thoroughly mix before use.

2. Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add a small amount of butter and pour mixture to obtain 5- to 6-inch crepes. Cook until browned and turn over. Repeat until about 20 small crepes are obtained.

Anise-flavoured crab apple syrup

1. Measure ¾ of a cup of crab apple syrup (set aside crab apples). Refrigerate remaining syrup and crab apples.

2. In a small pot, bring to a boil the crab apple syrup and the star anise. Lower heat and simmer 15 minutes until syrup is rich and thick.

Mascarpone mousse

1. In a bowl, whisk the cream with the sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.

2. In another bowl, whisk the mascarpone until smooth and consistent.

3. Carefully mix the cream and mascarpone to obtain a light mousse. Refrigerate.

Presentation

1. Place a crepe on a plate. Spread a spoonful of mascarpone mousse over it and cover with another crepe. Repeat until there are five layers of crepes and mascarpone mousse. Add a few crab apples. Drizzle with anise-flavoured crab apple syrup and garnish with a few mint leaves.

*Tip

For a unique taste in your favourite recipes, replace 1 tsp of vanilla with ½ a fresh vanilla bean. Open the bean lengthwise with a small knife. Use the back of the blade to scrape the inside of the bean to recover the small seeds for use in your recipes. The shell can be placed in a bowl of sugar to obtain vanilla sugar. It can also be infused in liquid preparations.