Blissful Cheese Blintz

A blintz is simply a type of crepe of mostly Russian origin. The style that i describe in the recipe below is probably the most common in Australia; you can get them at Pancake Parlour! This one is for desserts, however blini can also be filled with savoury fillings as a main or entree. My favorite thing about these is their yummy snack size portability!! Chuck them in the freezer and pull them out as you need them. Yum!

The Blintz Crepe

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Butter

Method:

Combine all of of the ingredients except the butter and whisk until well combined. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Remove, and test consistency. You are looking for a very runny pancake batter; if you need to thin it out at at time, gradually add more milk and stir.

Heat a frying pan to a medium heat and then run the pan with some butter. Pour in approximately one ladel full of batter and tilt the pan so that the batter spreads out to be as thin as possible. 

Within about one minute, the blintz should no longer look glossy, and may be rising slightly off the pan at it's edges. When this happens, slide a spatula under the crepe and flip and cook for a further 20 seconds. Then remove the blintz and place on a plate with  a towel over the top. Repeat for the remaining blini.

Note: It's a given that the first blintz or two will not turn out very well. This might be because the pan is too hot, it might be because the batter is too thick; even if you get all of these right, the first blintz is never the best.

The Filling

Ingredients

• 500gm ricotta or cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Zest of 2 lemons
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup icing sugar

Method

Simply combine all of the above ingredients in a bowl any way you know how!

The Folding and Cooking

Place around 2 tablespoons of the filling in the centre of the blintz crepe.

Fold the top of the crepe into the middle, on top of the filling.

Fold the bottom of the crepe into the middle, above the other end of the crepe

Repeat for left and right as per the picture below. 

Place in a baking dish with the folds down and cook for 20 minutes at 180 degrees; or place in an oiled pan, folded side down until the side browns, then flip and repeat for the other side.

Dust with icing sugar and serve with a wedge of lemon and some berries. The inside should be gooey. I personally prefer them at room temperature where the filling has thickened a little bit.