Baby Blintz Stacks 3 Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S CHEESE BLINTZES

Steps:

• Place 3 eggs, flour, milk, water, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract in a blender. Blend until completely smooth, 1 or 2 minutes, scraping down sides as needed. Let batter sit at room temperature 30 minutes.
• Whisk together ricotta cheese, cream cheese, lemon zest, egg, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix together thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate.
• Heat a 10-inch, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Spray or brush lightly with vegetable oil. Pour in about 1/4 cup batter. Immediately swirl batter around to coat bottom of pan. Cook until surface looks dry, about 1 minute. Flip crepe over to briefly cook other side, about 30 seconds. Remove to a plate. Repeat with the rest of batter. Stack crepes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly butter a baking dish.
• Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons of filling onto the crepe, about an inch from edge nearest you. Fold edge over filling and flatten slightly. Fold in both sides, then roll up crepe into a small filled rectangle, ending with the seam on the bottom, creating a blintz.
• Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Cook the blintzes until golden brown on both sides, turning gently, about 2 minutes. Transfer to buttered baking dish.
• Bake in preheated oven to firm up the filling, about 12 minutes. Cool blintzes 10 minutes before serving. Dust lightly with confectioners' sugar.

COTTAGE CHEESE BLINTZES

Steps:

• Whisk together the eggs, milk, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a bowl; gradually add in the flour, whisking to remove all lumps.
• Brush a small skillet with 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Pour about 2 tablespoons of batter per crepe into the heated skillet, and tilt the pan to completely cover the surface with batter. Crepes should be about 5 inches in diameter. Cook the crepes until golden on the bottom, and set but not wet on top, 1 to 2 minutes per crepe. Don't flip the crepes. Set the cooked crepes aside.
• Mix the cottage cheese, egg yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a bowl until very well combined. To fill, place a crepe in front of you on a work surface with the cooked side up, and place about 1/4 cup of cheese filling in the center of the crepe. Fold the right and left edges of the crepe over the filling, and roll the crepe over to seal the filling in, making a compact little roll filled with cheese. Set the blintzes aside.
• Heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat, and place the filled blintzes into the hot skillet. Pan-fry the blintzes until golden brown on each side, about 2 minutes per side. Eat hot or cold.

BLINI (RUSSIAN PANCAKES)

Steps:

• Beat together the milk and the eggs. Stir in the salt and the sugar and mix well. Add the baking soda and citric acid.
• Blend in the flour. Add the vegetable oil and pour in the boiling water, stirring constantly. The batter should be very thin, almost watery. Set the bowl aside and let it rest for 20 minutes.
• Melt a tablespoon of butter in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Pick the pan up off the heat. Pour in a ladleful of batter while you rotate your wrist, tilting the pan so the batter makes a circle and coats the bottom. The blini should be very thin.
• Return the pan to the heat. Cook the blini for 90 seconds. Carefully lift up an edge of the blini to see if it's fully cooked: the edges will be golden and it should have brown spots on the surface. Flip the blini over and cook the other side for 1 minute.
• Transfer the blini to a plate lined with a clean kitchen towel. Continue cooking the blini, adding an additional tablespoon of butter to the pan after each 4 blini. Stack them on top of each other and cover with the kitchen towel to keep warm.
• Spread your favorite filling in the center of the blini, and fold three times to make a triangle shape. You can also fold up all 4 sides, like a small burrito.

CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM CREPES

Steps:

• Heat 1 tablespoon butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir chicken until no longer pink in the center, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• Melt remaining 1/4 cup butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and onion; cook and stir until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup flour and cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add 2 cups milk, chicken bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper; cook and stir until thickened into a sauce, about 5 minutes. Stir in sour cream and sherry.
• Scoop 1 cup sauce into a bowl; keep warm. Stir chicken and 1 teaspoon parsley into remaining sauce in the skillet. Simmer until chicken is heated through, about 5 minutes.
• Beat 1 cup milk, 3/4 cup flour, egg, 1 tablespoon melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and baking powder together in a bowl to make crepe batter.
• Grease a 7-inch skillet lightly; heat over medium heat. Pour 2 tablespoons batter into the skillet, swirling to spread evenly. Cook crepe until golden brown, about 30 seconds per side. Transfer crepe to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter, separating crepes with waxed paper and covering to keep warm.
• Scoop 1/4 cup chicken mixture onto each crepe and roll up. Spoon reserved 1 cup sauce over filled crepes. Garnish with remaining 1 teaspoon parsley.

TRADITIONAL CHEESE BLINTZES

Steps:

• Beat eggs in a bowl. Add milk, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Beat in flour using an electric mixer until well blended. Let batter stand for 15 to 30 minutes.
• Mix the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, cottage cheese, sugar, sour cream, egg yolk, and cinnamon together in a bowl to make the filling.
• Melt butter in a 6- to 7-inch skillet. Spoon a portion of the batter onto the skillet; cook until lightly browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel. Repeat with the remaining batter, thinning with small amounts of water if necessary and greasing the pan after every 2 to 3 blintzes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
• Melt the remaining butter in the skillet over low heat, about 1 minute.
• Place a blintz on a clean work surface with the uncooked side up. Add 1 tablespoon filling and roll up, completely covering the filling. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining blintzes. Brush filled blintzes with melted butter.
• Bake in the preheated oven until brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

STRAWBERRY BLINTZES

Steps:

• Beat eggs, flour, and salt together in a large bowl until smooth. Mix in milk and 1 1/2 tablespoon butter gradually. Cover with plastic wrap and let batter rest in the refrigerator, at least 2 hours.
• Combine cottage cheese, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract in a blender; blend until filling is smooth.
• Melt a bit of butter in a large skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Ladle in a small amount of batter and swirl skillet to spread batter in a thin layer. Cook until set, about 30 seconds. Flip and continue cooking until second side is cooked, about 10 seconds. Transfer to a plate to cool. Repeat with remaining butter and batter.
• Spoon filling onto blintzes and fold. Top with strawberries.