Beggar’s Purses Recipe (Aumônière de Crêpes)

Name: Beggar’s Purses Recipe (Aumônière de Crêpes)
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 9
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 eggs; 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons (100 g) flour; 1 cup + 1/2 tablespoon (250 ml) milk; 2 tablespoons (30 ml) water; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 tablespoon orange flower water; 1 pinch of salt; 0.5 oz. (15 g) butter; 3 large apples; 2/3 cup (150 g) sugar; 3 tablespoons (45 ml) water; 2.1 oz. (60 g) butter; 1/3 cup + 1/2 tablespoon (85 ml) orange juice; 1 pinch of ground cinnamon

Published: Mar 17, 2020 · Modified: Jun 3, 2022 by Irina Totterman · 46 Comments

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Folded up and filled with caramelized apples, these Beggar's purses (aka crepe purses) are the most elegant way to serve French crepes. Add this simple recipe to your party menu to surprise your guests. Let them discover the interior!

Two Beggar's purses tied with a toothpick on a red dessert plate

I hope that you have already perfected your crepe-making skills, or one day you will become an expert in French crepe cooking.

I could anticipate the next question, which is how to serve crepes. Serve them plain, sprinkled with powdered (icing) sugar, or spread some jam/preserves or homemade hazelnut praline paste.

Have you heard of Beggar's purses? Are you intrigued?

Just imagine that you can serve crepes resembling purses. Beggar's purses (Beggars purses), crepe purses, or crepe bundles are the same names of an elegant crepe presentation - a presentation to die for.

So, while making French crepes, garnish some of them with caramelized apples, tie them as purses and serve as Beggar's purses.

Simply saying, these are apple crepes, or crepes with caramelized apples (aumônière de crêpes aux pommes in French).

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What is a Beggar's purse?
Beggar's purse dessert origin
Sweet filling ideas for Beggar's purses
What to use to tie crepe purses
Why you should try this recipe
Ingredients
How to make Beggar's purses
Expert tips
Love apple desserts? Try these next!
Recipe card
Comments

Two crepes tied as purses and filled with caramelized apples on a dessert plate: Close up

What is a Beggar's purse?

Beggar's purse is an appetizer made of a crepe filled with caviar and a dollop of creme fraiche.

It resembles a purse since the crepe's edges are gathered into pleats and tied with blanched chives.

Over time, this dish developed into a dessert with different sweet fillings.

Beggar's purse dessert origin

Beggar's purse (aka crepe purse) got its name from a pouch-shaped form of the alms purse worn on the belt and containing the money.

It goes back to the 14th century when carrying cash on hand to give to those who begged a gift was a Christian action of kindness.

Beggar’s purse is called “aumônière de crêpes” or "crêpes en aumônière" in French, where "aumônière" is translated “chaplain.”

Sweet filling ideas for Beggar's purses

Caramelized apples (the recipe is below)
A mix of caramelized fruits such as apples, pears, and mandarins
Caramelized bananas or pineapple
Peaches with candied ginger and cottage cheese
Mango with passion fruit

What to use to tie crepe purses

a long sprig of chives blanched in advance
strips cut from fresh or candied orange or lemon peel
licorice laces
a vanilla pod cut in half
a toothpick with a small piece of fruit put at each end
a piece of kitchen string
raffia
bamboo skewers

Why you should try this recipe

This simple Beggars purse recipe upgrades French crepes to an elegant dessert.
Making crepes in advance saves time on the day of serving.
Using seasonal fruits brings no limit in creating new sweet fillings. Just be creative!

A couple of crepes tied with toothpicks as purses on a red dessert plate: Overhead view

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Eggs: use whole, large-sized eggs at room temperature.

Flour: the recipe calls for all-purpose flour.

Milk: use whole, reduced-fat milk (2%), or low-fat milk (1%).

Vanilla extract: use Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla extract - the most flavored one.

Orange flower water: it brings a beautiful flavor to the crepe batter. Omit this ingredient if desired.

Salt: it enhances the flavors of crepes.

Butter: use unsalted melted butter to make the crepe batter: no need to grease a crepe pan then. To make the caramel, use unsalted butter cut into small cubes.

Apples: Golden apples or Granny Smith apples are the best to use for this recipe. They hold their shape while cooking.

Sugar: use granulated white sugar to make the caramel.

Orange juice: make it yourself with a citrus squeezer or use store-bought orange juice.

Cinnamon: use ground cinnamon to bring additional flavor to caramelized apples.

How to make Beggar's purses

To make a crepe batter, sift flour with a flour sifter in a large bowl. Add eggs, salt, vanilla extract, and orange flower water (photo 1) and mix with a hand whisk (photo 2).

Photo 1: Flour and eggs in a bowl Photo 2: Flour/eggs mixture in a bowl — **PHOTO 1 PHOTO 2**

Add water and cold milk in small portions, and mix well. Melt butter, pour into the mixture, and whisk (photo 3). Let it stand for 2 hours at room temperature.

Pour a ladle of the batter (about ¼ cup of batter) and tilt and rotate a crepe pan to distribute it and coat its bottom (photo 4).

Photo 3: Ready crepe batter in a glass bowl Photo 4: Batter distributed in a pan — **PHOTO 3 PHOTO 4**

When the crepe's edges become golden and come off the pan, turn the crepe over with a heatproof plastic spatula or a flexible turner.

Let it brown on the second side (photo 5). Continue with the remaining batter (photo 6).

Photo 5: Ready crepe in a pan Photo 6: Stack of crepes on a white plate — **PHOTO 5 PHOTO 6**

To make the apple filling, peel apples and cut them into small cubes (photo 7).

Melt the sugar with water in a pan to make the caramel. Shake the pan and let it brown (photo 8).

Photo 7: Apples cut into small cubes in a bowl Photo 8: Caramel in a pan — **PHOTO 7 PHOTO 8**

Add butter and mix with a wooden spatula. Add apple cubes (photo 9) and orange juice, sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Cook over low-medium heat for 10 minutes (photo 10).

Photo 9: Apple cubes over caramel in a pan Photo 10: Caramelized apples in a pan — **PHOTO 9 PHOTO 10**

To assemble purses, top each crepe with one tablespoon of the caramelized apples (photo 11).

Gather the edges of the crepe towards the center while making folds and tie them with one or two toothpicks (photo 12). Serve 1 or 2 per person.

Photo 11: Caramelized apples over the crepe Photo 12: Two crepe purses on a red plate — **PHOTO 11 PHOTO 12**

Expert tips

Read this no-fail French Crepes recipe for tips and tricks.
Make crepes the day before and store them wrapping with plastic film.
Use Golden apples or Granny Smith apples since they hold their shape while cooking.

Love apple desserts? Try these next!

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The crepe recipe was adapted from the book of Pierre Hermé, "Le Larousse des Desserts"". The recipe was originally published on February 10, 2018. It has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.

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About Irina Totterman

I'm Irina, an experienced home baker with over 30 years of expertise and the blogger behind Baking Like a Chef (since 2018), where I share baking recipes, tips, and tricks. My recipes have been featured in the renowned French Chef Simon and Le Journal des Femmes.