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Pancake Fridays: Japanese Cheesecake Crepes

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So on a lucky Wednesday afternoon, several stars aligned to bring these crepes into existence:

Japanese Cheesecake Crepes // The Pancake Princess

In retrospect, a wonderful life decision.

Japanese Cheesecake Crepes // The Pancake PrincessJapanese Cheesecake Crepes // The Pancake Princess

These are not just crepes with cheesecake-y filling. These are Japanese-style crepes (just wait, they’re special) filled with AN ENTIRE SLICE OF CHEESECAKE. I REPEAT, A WHOLE SLICE.

And this is Greek yogurt cheesecake! Because it’s healthy and because I hate cream cheese. And we like protein! And this way we can all eat dessert for breakfast!

Japanese Cheesecake Crepes // The Pancake Princess

So Japanese crepes: pale, springy and elastic, topped with zillions of fruit and cream and spreads and everything you can think of rolled into a cone, wrapped in paper and eaten on the go (versus golden brown French crepes, generally eaten on a plate with a fork and knife). Authentic Japanese crepes are made with mochi, a glutinous rice powder (or so I hear), which creates that special stretchy characteristic. Both crepes can be trashed up with tons of toppings but I have never seen a whole slice of cheesecake in a crepe before. It excites me.

Cheesecake: cut a slice, crepe it, roll it, eat it.

Japanese Cheesecake Crepes // The Pancake Princess

Folds of thin, warm, tender crepe wrapped around a cold, tangy slice of cheesecake with a smear of jam and maybe a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs, or some peanut butter. Heaven.

Japanese Cheesecake Crepes // The Pancake Princess

After going on a wallet binge in North/South Carolina this past weekend (on a lovely vacation where I got to meet up with Kaylie of Skinny Muffin!!), I decided it would be a good idea to not grocery shop this week in the interest of saving $$ and potentially clearing out my pantry (minus the $20 of ingredients that are going into Erik’s birthday cakes [yes, CAKES] i.e. basically I’ve been living off Sprinkles cupcakes, leftover birthday cake and these crepes). So I had no fruit on hand, but I think sliced strawberries or mango or berries or banana would be great. Jam also works well.

Since 99% of the “Japanese crepe” recipes I found online do not use mochi or mochiko, I think it’s safe to say that you can use whatever your favorite crepe recipe is and not worry about matters of authenticity. The one I used (below) uses half AP flour and half sweet rice flour (which I ground from sweet glutinous rice), but I wound up with some hole-riddled crepes in the beginning and they were difficult to spread in the pan. If you try this recipe, make sure to whisk the batter before pouring each crepe to keep the flour from settling.

If you are interested in trying a crepe that does use rice flour, this, this and this are on my list of recipes to try.

As for the cheesecake, I used this recipe (minus the crust and peaches) in my 6” springform pan and it took approximately five million years to bake, or more specifically one hour and 20 minutes. And it was slightly watery (an overnight rest in the fridge seemed to squeeze out a lot of the water) and sunk into itself a little. I would recommend baking it in a bigger pan the way the original recipe was written so that you have a shorter cheesecake that will take less time to bake and will likely not sink. I have very little experience with cheesecake, so if anyone knows why it was watery, please let me know!

Japanese Cheesecake Crepes // The Pancake Princess

And in the meantime, make these.

PS. I had planned to wrap these in wax paper the way street vendors do, but they were just so small it seemed silly. A typical frying pan will, however, turn out crepes that are the perfect size to roll up and serve in shot glasses.

PPS. The bride shot glass, incidentally, was from my 21st birthday. Oh how the years fly.

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Japanese Cheesecake Crepes

Japanese crepes made with glutinous rice flour are stuffed with whole slices of Greek yogurt cheesecake for an unparalleled breakfast-worthy treat.

Ingredients

  • For the cheesecake:
  • 2 cups fat free Greek yogurt I used Chobani vanilla
  • 1/3 cup sugar if your yogurt is not sweetened, you could up this to ½ cup
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla if using plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch

  • For the crepes:
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose or white whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup sweet rice flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 cups almond milk

Instructions

  • For the cheesecake:
  • In a blender, blend together the yogurt, sugar, eggs and vanilla, if using. Add the salt and cornstarch and blend just to combine.
  • Fill a 9x9 casserole dish with 1” of water and put it on the bottom rack of your oven—this will keep the cheesecake from cracking. Pour the cheesecake batter into a well-greased 10” springform pan (or any size, really—the smaller it is, the thicker your cheesecake will be and the longer it will take to bake).
  • Bake for 30 minutes, or until center just barely jiggles and the edges are light brown. Turn oven off and crack door. Let cool completely in the oven if you have the time; if not, transfer to the counter or fridge to chill (if these slices are going in crepes, no need to look pretty!).
  • For the crepes:
  • In a blender, blend together the flours, eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth—don’t over mix. Though this step can be done by hand, I highly recommend using a blender to make sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Add the milk in two additions, blending after each addition.
  • Lightly grease a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add a scant ½ cup of batter (amount will depend on the size of your pan) and quickly swirl to evenly coat the bottom of the batter.
  • Let the crepe cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the edges look dry and you can easily slide a spatula underneath. Loosen the edges of the crepe, slide the spatula under it and gently flip upside down. Cook for another 10-20 seconds and transfer the crepe to a plate or cooling rack. Make sure to whisk the batter again in between each crepe to ensure the flour doesn’t settle at the bottom.
  • To assemble:
  • Place one slice of cheesecake in the center of the top half of your crepe. Add fruit, jam, graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, or any other toppings. Fold the bottom half up over the top half. Fold or roll closed. Eat!

Notes

Cheesecake adapted from here, crepes from here

Did you try this recipe?

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Triumph.

Japanese Cheesecake Crepes // The Pancake Princess

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  1. Alex @ Brain, Body, Because

    HOLY SWEET JESUS OH MY GOSH THIS IS RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING.

    I have never heard of Japanese crepes, but anything stuffed with an entire MF slice of cheesecake is a slam dunk in my book. This is incredible! I feel like my life has changed a little bit right now 🙂

    Reply

  3. laurasmess

    Cheesecake, in a crepe? What a genius idea! No-mess, no cutlery required… those Japanese are clever clogs! Love your GIF, love the post, love the fact that you ditched yoga to make crepes. Girl after my own heart! I intend to make these very soon. I love the fact that this is a healthy cheesecake, therefore it can be eaten for breakfast. Indeedy! Thanks Erika lovely! xx

    Reply

  4. veganmiam.com

    Beautiful shot of these glasses! I saw few of them during my trip in Spain at the souvenir shops, haha, even the I <3 NY! Your photos look gorgeous….and love the animation shot… pretty cool!

    Reply

  6. Kaylie @ Skinny Muffin

    Like I said, you really know how to do birthdays right. So, I’m assuming you’re going to send me one of these in October for my birthday, right?? And just the concept of putting cheesecake inside ANYTHING sounds delicious. Cheesecake stuffed crepes and pancakes and biscuits and muffins and…

    Reply

    • erika

      Um, duh 🙂 And expect a larger package in the mail as well because I need to keep honing my Momofuku skills… 🙂 OMG a cheesecake-stuffed biscuit! !!!

      Reply

  8. Nancy @ gottagetbaked

    Ummm…taking a delicious dessert and then wrapping it around another delicious dessert? Yes please! And I absolutely love that you’ve been subsisting on cupcakes, cake and crepes. You usually eat so healthy, your body deserved it! Can’t wait to see what amazing cakes (plural!) you whip up for Erik’s bday! Happy Labour Day long weekend, lady!

    Reply

  9. The Wimpy Vegetarian

    Oh my gosh! Cheesecake and crepes?? PERFECT. I just received this morning a case of Chobani to experiment with (I’m really excited!!) but it’s not Greek yogurt. Must it be? I love this whole idea of cheesecake without the cream cheese. I could drain it more? But it’s already fairly thick it seems.

    Reply

    • erika

      Oooh! Wait–I received a case of Chobani and that’s exactly what I used to make this! Is it not Greek yogurt? I have to double check what I got–totally thought it was. Maybe THAT’S why my cheesecake was so watery! So yes, I would say if it’s normal Chobani and you drained it, it could definitely work in this recipe, and probably turn out better than mine did 🙂 Thanks for helping potentially solve this mystery!!

      Reply

  10. Two Red Bowls

    Mm, these look fantastic. And so inventive! I never thought to bake a Greek yogurt cheesecake but now I think I’ve got to. I’m so glad I found you through Gotta Get Baked, your blog is wonderful! (Also, I agree, Miley is definitely going to look back and think…omg. But we all have those moments, I guess. And I may have had PTSD from my own when I saw her dance.)

    Reply

  11. Kym

    W.O.W. This looks and sounds amazing! I’ll have to try this next time I make cheesecake…. and it’s perfect b/c my cheesecake always cracks so the crepes will hide the cracks. haha!!!

    Reply

    • erika

      Thanks Kym 🙂 I know, mine too! I just don’t make it very often so I don’t know how to do it right!! But yes, this is the perfect way to hide those imperfections 😉

      Reply

    • erika

      Yesss. I am so excited to stuff more crepes!! And OMG you are the best for tipping me off about gnocchi night. I am seriously in love. Why is it only once a month??

      Reply

  13. Alissa @ Connoisseurus Veg

    I read that post you linked to from Oh My Veggies last week and I remember thinking that cheesecake stuffed crepes sounded like the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard of! Now I’m reading this and looking at your photos and thinking the idea is brilliant. These look delicious and it’s really cool that you made what I thought was the most over-the-top indulgent sounding dessert healthy enough for breakfast. I will definitely try these out!

    Reply

  14. Heather (Sweet Precision)

    Oh. My. Gosh. Seriously… crepes with cheesecake?! I don’t think it gets much better than this. Wait, I’m sure it doesn’t. Maybe it’s because my stomach is growling in anticipation of lunch, but I would really love to devour one of these right off the computer screen right now. I love the picture that shows the process with the folding, how did you do that?! Also, I love the window in the background of your shots. I remember a few posts ago it was a rainy day. I’m glad to see it looks like a nice sunny day outside 🙂

    Reply

    • erika

      Aww you are so sweet! Haha I love that you noticed the weather in the photos…I was wondering if anyone would pick up that it was raining that one day (I think it was the buckwheat pancakes)! Yeah the weather has been lovely lately. And the folding photo is a gif! I just put four photos into this gif creator–super easy! http://imgflip.com/gifgenerator

      Reply

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