Top | Ronnie Fein

Blintzes

(recipe, Ronnie Fein)

Ingredients

    Pancakes
    1. ¾ cup flour
    2. 1½ tsp. sugar
    3. ½ tsp. salt
    4. ¾ cup milk
    5. 2 large eggs
    6. Melted butter for frying
    Filling
    1. 1 lb. pot cheese, farmer's cheese, or small-curd cottage cheese
    2. 1½ Tbsp. sugar
    3. 1 egg
    4. 1 tsp. lemon juice
    5. 1 tsp. finely grated lemon peel or ½ teaspoon cinnamon
    6. 2 Tbsp. butter
    7. Dairy sour cream

    Steps

    1. Make the pancakes: Sift the flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl. Add the milk and eggs and whisk the ingredients to form a smooth batter. The consistency should be like heavy cream; add more milk to thin the batter if necessary. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
    2. Place a 7-inch nonstick rounded-edge skillet or crêpe pan over medium heat. Brush with a film of melted butter. Pour about 2 tablespoons of the batter into the pan and swirl the pan quickly to cover the entire bottom surface. Cook for about 1 minute or until the bottom is lightly browned and the top shows no wet spots. Remove the blintz and repeat with the remaining batter, stacking the pancakes between sheets of wax or parchment paper or aluminum foil.
    3. Make the filling: Combine the cheese, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon peel, and beat to combine ingredients. Fill each blintz on the cooked side, spooning equal amounts (about 2 tablespoons) of filling on each pancake. Fold the left and right sides over the filling (some people also fold the top and bottom, to make an envelope).
    4. To serve, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the blintzes, folded side down, on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Place thin slivers of butter on top of each blintz. Bake for about 7 to 8 minutes or until hot. Serve with sour cream.

    Note

    Culinate editor's notes: If the batter is lumpy, whir it briefly in a blender for a smooth consistency. Letting the batter rest is traditional for blintzes and crêpes, but not necessary. And you can serve blintzes the same way you serve crêpes: one by one, hot off the griddle, with any kind of filling (jam, curd, fresh fruit) you like. You can use fromage blanc in place of the farmer's cheese. Sour cream topped with caviar is a traditional Russian (although not generally kosher) filling or topping for blintzes and blini.