Matcha Mille Crepes

I used to have nightmares a lot.

I was a pretty good kid. I rarely stayed up past my bedtime and I always, always brushed my teeth before I crawled under the blankets (except for a few occasions when I was so sleepy I had to be carried into bed). But I had a lot of nightmares. I slept with my parents and sister when I was a kid, so I'd wake up in tears and proceed to wake up either parent. My sister never woke - she sleeps like the dead. They would then sit with me until my tears dried and my heart rate slowed down enough for me to go back to sleep.

I remember one dream in particular - it had to do with falling into a pool with some huge carnivorous catfish. Yes, catfish. It was my favorite thing to eat and see when I visited aquariums but now I can barely look at them, let alone put one in my mouth. 

Now I have my own room and I don't have nightmares that often any more. Even when I do, I don't find it necessary to run to my parents' room in the middle of the night. Is that what growing up feels like? I don't know. Because now when I have dreams, it's always sci-fi. Like last night, I dreamt that I was in a shopping mall that linked to an underground research place that either built weapons or made some scientist-ey stuff, I can't recall. The more I think about it, the fuzzier it becomes. All I can remember is that the walls of the underground lab were purple and there were tunnels leading everywhere from their experimental rooms to a shop that sold candy. Not even kidding.

My brain is wired that way I guess. Kind of like why I decided to make these crepe cakes tiny - they were like an inch in diameter. I guess I thought they'd be cute. But what I didn't account for was how awkward they would be to frost and stack and store. I also thought it would be a brilliant idea to have matcha in both the crepes and the filling but that just meant you couldn't tell them apart when they were stacked. Which meant I just had some tiny tall green towers. But they were tasty, tall green towers.

Small and very matcha-ey. Just the way I like them.

See how small ?

I posted the recipe as I made them, with matcha in the filling too but feel free to omit the green tea powder if you're not a huge fan. And if you want the striking layers of green and white. They'll taste wonderful either way.

Green Tea Crêpe Cake (adapted from Zen Can Cook)
Serves 6

For the green tea crêpes:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup lukewarm water or beer
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons matcha powder

For the pastry cream:

2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon matcha powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped (optional)

For the crêpes:

1. Combine all the ingredients by hand and mix until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
2. Place a nonstick frying pan or a seasoned crêpe pan over medium heat. Using a paper towel, coat the pan with a little butter. Pour about 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the pan. Lift, tilt and rotate the pan so that the batter forms an even, very thin layer. Cook until golden. Turn the crêpe over and cook a little longer. Remove the crêpe to a piece of wax paper. Continue cooking the rest of the crêpes.

Pastry cream:

1. In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil over medium heat.
2. Whisk the yolks, sugar, cornstarch and matcha together in a bowl. Drizzle a quarter of the hot milk and whisk vigorously. Pour the rest of the milk and keep whisking. Return the custard to the pan and add the vanilla extract. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil while whisking energetically for 1 or 2 minutes. The mixture will be thick.
3. Set the bottom of the pot in a ice-water bath to cool, stirring frequently so that the mixture remains smooth. Cool to 140′F (warm to the touch) and stir in the butter until completely incorporated. Cool and refrigerate.
4. When ready to use, place the put the pastry cream in a food processor and process for 10 seconds for the best consistency. Fold in the whipped cream if using.

To assemble the Mille Crêpes:

Lay 1 crêpe on a cake plate. Using an icing spatula, completely cover with a thin layer of pastry cream. Cover with a crêpe and repeat to make a stack of 15 to 20. Chill for at least 2 hours. Serve cold.