This Mother’s Day, Let Paris Starn Show You How to Make the Ultimate Breakfast in Bed

This Mother’s Day, moms everywhere will wake up to the same touching scene: their children and spouses presenting them with breakfast in bed. It’s a gesture that is the epitome of “it’s the thought that counts” (as a kid, this writer remembers presenting some under-toasted bread). But this year, we asked food stylist Paris Starn to do her take on the tradition—and to essentially create a Mother’s Day mood-board for the rest of us in the process.

“I had so much fun conceptualizing a Mother’s Day spread,” Starn says of her breakfast in bed tray. “I combined all of my mother’s favorites: lilacs, a latte, and pancakes,” she says. The result: crepes served with lemon, sugared lilacs, and butter. (Starn said she was inspired by those served at the James Beard Award-nominated Café Mutton in Hudson.)

She picked up common lilacs—making sure they were pesticide and insecticide free—at the Union Square Farmer’s Market. Some, she put in a vase. Others she turned into decorative edible accents: “I then decorated some of the lilac flowers by dipping them in egg white, blotting them on a towel, sprinkling the sugar on top, and letting them dry overnight in the fridge,” she says.

Starn also made her batter the night before, which included lemon zest-infused super-fine sugar. “All I had to do the next morning was quickly finish up the batter and then fry up the pancakes,” she says. “While the pancakes cooked, I set up the tray: placing a lilac sprig in an egg cup, and making the latte. I plated everything on my mother’s wedding dinnerware, with napkins and silverware.”

Find Starn’s recipe to recreate this Mother’s Day—or to inspire you in future years—below.

Paris Starn’s Breakfast-in-Bed Crêpes

On my first trip to Cafe Mutton in Hudson, NY, I got their crêpes (definitely go and try them if you are in the area). They were excellent, and I couldn’t stop thinking about them. They were pudgy and tender in the center with crisp airy edges—unlike any crêpe I’ve had before.

Eventually, I got around to making some at home, blending ratios of pannkakors (Swedish pancakes) and crêpes. The batter is all made in the blender, and it takes under ten minutes of active time from start to finish, but you have to remember to start it the night before so that the flour has enough time to hydrate.

A good quantity for 2 adults

• 2 eggs
• 400g milk
• 1 tsp diamond crystal kosher salt
• 15g white sugar
• 110g all purpose flour
• 40g of butter (or ghee or clarified butter) melted
• 100g sparkling water
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Approximately 80g ghee or clarified butter, melted, for frying

1. Do the batter the night before. Place in your blender bowl the eggs, milk, salt, sugar, and flour. Blend on medium speed for about 30 seconds until combined. Leave the lid on and place the blender bowl in the fridge overnight.
2. The next morning, preheat a nonstick cooking pan over medium heat on the stove. Remove your pancake batter from the fridge and re-blend for about 10 seconds to re-emulsify the ingredients (the flour will have sunk to the bottom). Add the melted butter (or ghee or clarified butter,) sparkling water, and baking powder to the blender and mix again for about 10 seconds.
3. At this point, your nonstick pan should be hot. Place 1-2 teaspoons of the melted ghee or clarified butter into the pan (the amount will depend on the size of the pan you are using, I recommend about 1 teaspoon for an 8” pan, and 2 teaspoons for a 12” pan). Swirl the pan to distribute it across the surface and then quickly pour in your batter: about 45g to 50g for an 8” pan, and 90g to 100g for a 12” pan. The batter will sputter and bubble—use the handle to quickly swirl the pan and distribute the batter across the entire surface. I like to leave the middle of the pancake thicker than the edges.
4. Let the pancake fry undisturbed for about 90 seconds (give or take 30 seconds depending on the heat of your pan—if you are using a 12” pan it could take an additional minute). You will eventually notice the edges becoming a darker brown. Take a soft spatula and run it around the rim of the pancake to release it from the pan and then wiggle the spatula underneath to flip it. Let the pancake cook for another 45 seconds to a minute and then transfer it to a plate.
5. Continue making the rest of the pancakes by repeating the process outlined in the previous two paragraphs. You can keep them warm in the oven on the lowest setting as you fry, or eat as you go. They can be served up with anything you like (maple syrup as they do at Cafe Mutton is delicious, or just as simply with sugar and lemon).