Excitement on a plate! Unique dessert crepe tacos – stacked in an irresistible tower for summer picnics, a lovely buffet, or just anytime… These light, gluten free crepes can be held in the hand to eat! Arrange your stack as tall as you like in an alternating pattern of fruit and whipped cream filled tacos. Then let your guests choose theirs from the stack, pick it up and devour. Fruit taco Jenga, anyone?

The secret to these dessert tacos is stiffly whipped cream – flavored with honey, lavender and lemon – which binds the fruit and crepes together beautifully. Light but sturdy!

With luscious full-on-summer fruits tucked in as you please.

And if you’re making tacos, you can’t forget the salsa! Try a simple, perfect bing cherry and fresh minced ginger blend, with just a hint of mint.

These tacos are stunning, any way you eye them.

Want a bite?

Gluten Free Lemon Millet Crepes
Easy, wonderful, homemade. Makes about 18 6 inch crepes.

• 3/4 c. millet flour
• 4 tablespoons tapioca starch
• 2 tbsp. organic sugar
• pinch sea salt
• 2 large organic eggs
• 1  1/4 c. milk of choice
• 1 tsp. pure lemon oil or extract
• 1 tablespoon quality butter, melted
• additional butter for pan as you make the crepes

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil or extract and melted butter then whisk thoroughly until batter is smooth. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for two hours. (Note: Refrigerating the crepe batter helps to soften the millet flour granules and everything to meld together…) Whisk well again before using.

In a 6 inch crepe, or non-stick pan, melt 1/2 teaspoon butter over medium heat. When pan is hot, pour just enough batter to cover the bottom, about 2 1/2 tbsp. The thinner the crepe, the better! Swirl quickly to coat the bottom of the pan, and cook until you see bubbles forming, and the edges of the crepe lightly browning, about 2 minutes. Flip the crepe with a spatula (the crepes perform beautifully in the flipping process!) Cook another minute or so more. Slide crepe out of pan to cool on a plate or rack. Repeat this process until you run out of batter, adding the small dab of butter to the pan for each (or every other) crepe. They keep beautifully overnight. You could also freeze them with squares of waxed or parchment paper in between, in an air-tight bag.

Honey Lavender Lemon Whipped Cream
The bits of lavender flower buds are a sweet twist – do try it!

• 1 pint whipping cream
• 2-3 tbsp. honey or to taste
• 1 1/2 level tsp. lavender buds
• 1 tsp. lemon oil or extract

Whip all ingredients on high speed until JUST beyond stiff peaks. (And not close to butter!) You can experiment with how stiff you make the whipped cream, too loose makes the dessert tacos too floppy when you pick them up – and this is key for their portability!

Fruit of the Season
Choose your favorites! Juicy, tangy, tart and sweet…. For this photo shoot it was organic apricots, raspberries and blackberries….

Bing Cherry Ginger Salsa
Ginger is the spicy factor in this quick salsa. Cherries are at their peak right now, and so juicy, perfect in a salsa.

• 1/4 lb. bing cherries, washed, pitted and finely chopped
• 1 heaping tsp. very finely minced fresh (peeled) ginger
• 2 -3 large mint leaves, cut julienne (thin strips) or chopped

Stir the cherries, ginger and mint together in a bowl, mashing with a potato masher, whisk or kitchen mallet if you like. You may also pulse the salsa in a food processor – but its more to wash ya know.

To build your stack:
Choose your serving plate. Spread about 1/3 cup or more whipped cream on a crepe, place your fruit of choice on half the whipped cream, fold crepe taco in half, and place in the center of the plate. Make sure all the fruit is nestled into a bit of whipped cream on both sides of the crepe to hold it in place when lifted. Repeat, and nestle second taco back to back with the first. Repeat again, and alternate placement so you build a sturdy stack, lining all the tacos very evenly on top of each other. These photos show a stack of eight, but keep on stacking if you wish, probably up to 12 or so, then build another stack as you please. Serve cherry salsa on the side. The crepe tacos are best eaten the day they are made!

 I’d like to dedicate this recipe to my mother and Aunt Carolyn, and one of my favorite summer childhood memories. Our family was visiting Uncle Al and Aunt Carolyn in upstate New York – probably in July – it was a hot summer day. My twin sister and I were at the impressionable age of about 8 or 9. One night, one glorious night, as we gathered together around the big dining room table to eat, there was an extra sparkle and giggle in the air. Our entire meal consisted of homemade strawberry shortcakes! Big, fluffy, biscuits, split and buttered while still warm in individual bowls. Spoonfuls of sliced New York farm stand strawberries, lightly crushed with a little sugar ladled atop. Then mounds of freshly whipped cream dolloped with a flourish, the biscuit top jauntily set, a spoon slid in beside it all, and smiles. All around the table.