Blintzes

Name: Blintzes
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 240 g plain white flour; 240 ml sparkling water; 4 large free range egg (beaten); 50 g unsalted butter (melted); 1 pinch salt; 50 ml boiling water; 50 g unsalted butter (cubed); 20 g icing sugar; 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon; 250 g ricotta; 250 g cottage cheese (drained); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 large egg yolk; 50 g icing sugar; 1 lemon zest; 400 g cherries (pitted and halved); zest of 2 oranges; 3 tbsp unrefined golden caster sugar; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 3 tbsp dark rum

Thought to have originated in Central Europe - around Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, these blintzes are essentially pancakes!

Brought to you by Baking Mad

Filled pancakes, you say? We're all over blintzes!

Thought to have originated in Central Europe - around Poland, Hungary and Slovakia - these blintzes are essentially pancakes, filled with cheesecake-like goodness and a delicious cherry sauce. Yum! Take a look at the recipe below from Baking Mad.

Content continues after advertisements

4 people

Servings

60 mins

Preparation Time

30 mins

Cooking Time

Ingredients

For the batter:

240 g plain white flour
240 ml sparkling water
4 large free range egg (beaten)
50 g unsalted butter (melted)
1 pinch salt
50 ml boiling water
50 g unsalted butter (cubed)
20 g icing sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

For the filling:

250 g ricotta
250 g cottage cheese (drained)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
50 g icing sugar
1 lemon zest

For the cherry sauce:

400 g cherries (pitted and halved)
zest of 2 oranges
3 tbsp unrefined golden caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp dark rum

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together the ﬂour and sparkling water. Add the eggs, butter and salt. Whisk again until fully incorporated. The batter should have the consistency of double cream. Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the ﬁlling, put the cheeses in a large bowl or in a food processor and add the vanilla extract, egg yolk and icing sugar. Mix together, then put in the fridge for 30 minutes to ﬁrm up.

To make the cherry sauce, put the pitted cherries in a small pan with the orange zest and juice, sugar, cinnamon and rum. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Keep the sauce warm.  

Before cooking the crêpes, add 50ml boiling water to the batter and whisk thoroughly. This ensures the blintzes are soft and pliable when rolling (it’s a top tip from Michael Zee from Symmetry Breakfast).

You can bake or fry your blintzes to ﬁnish them, though I prefer them baked. If baking, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and butter a baking dish. Preheat a non-stick frying pan. Test that it is hot enough by putting a few drops of water in the pan. If the water sizzles, it is perfect for cooking the crêpes. If bubbles burst, reduce the heat a little. Wipe the pan with a buttered piece of kitchen paper, then pour in suﬃcient batter to coat the pan thinly. Cook over a medium heat until the blintz is a little crispy around the edges and ﬁrm on top. Do not ﬂip. Stack on a plate interleaved with kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more butter to the pan each time. (This can be done ahead of assembling the next stage, if you like.)

When ready to serve ﬁll the blintzes. Put a blintz on a ﬂat surface cooked-side up. Put 2–3 tablespoons of cheese ﬁlling in the lower third of the blintz and ﬂatten with the base of a spoon. Be sure not to overﬁll. Fold the base of the blintz over the ﬁlling and then fold the two sides into the middle and roll the blintz from the base to the top.

Put all the rolled blintz in the prepared baking dish. Scatter with cubes of butter. Bake for 15 minutes or until enticingly brown. Alternatively, the assembled blintzes can be fried in a large frying pan in melted butter for 4-5 minutes until crisp and golden, turning once.

Mix the icing sugar with the cinnamon and use to dust the cooked blintzes. Serve immediately with the warm cherry sauce. Traditionally, soured cream is served too, but I think this is probably over-gilding the blintzes which are plenty rich enough.