Blintzes Nalesniki Recipes

POLISH NALESNIKI

Steps:

• Process ricotta cheese and cream cheese in a food processor until smooth and creamy; add egg yolk, melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt and process until fluffy.
• Divide cheese mixture between the crepes. Spread filling into a thin layer and roll crepes around the filling.
• Melt 1 teaspoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Fry 3 crepes in melted butter until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes per side; repeat with remaining butter and crepes.

MOM'S NALESNIKI (SURPRISINGLY EASY POLISH CREPES)

Steps:

• Combine the flour, salt, egg and 1/2 cup each of milk and water and blend with hand mixer.
• Keep adding the remaining milk and water until you get a batter that's a bit thinner than sour cream. I've included some pictures to get an idea, but it should be pretty runny.
• Heat a frying pan (approx. 9" diameter) over high heat and spray with non-stick spray (or coat with oil that can withstand high temperatures).
• Pour about one and a quarter soup ladle on the center of the hot, greased pan. Tilt the pan immediately to spread the batter around. Remember, the batter may look really thin in spots, but that's ok, it'll still flip once it's cooked through (this is where I always went wrong because it seemed too thin and I panicked, but if it gets too thick it won't set properly).
• Let cook for a few minutes, depending on how hot the pan is this could take from 1-3 minutes. You can tell when it's ready to flip when 1) the crepe slides around when you move the pan and 2) you don't see anymore soft or uncooked areas in the top of the crepe. They're pretty thin so you can literally see the runny sections firm up!
• Flip the crepe over and cook for 30seconds - 1 minutes then slide onto a plate.
• If folding with any mixture, place mixture on half of crepe, fold over then fold over again so you get a quarter triangle. Depending on the filling, they can be served immediately or if using cheese filling (described in the intro, adjust ingredients to your personal preference), fry them up in a bit of butter to get the outside crispy and melt the cheese a bit. For jam or apple sauce, we just roll them up and top with sour cream and/or sugar.

NALYSNYKY (UKRAINIAN CREPES)

Steps:

• TO MAKE CREPES.
• In a bowl, using a hand held electric mixer, beat eggs until light and fluffy.
• Add milk, water, flour and salt and beat until all ingredients are incorporated and batter is smooth.
• Heat a 6 inch frying pan on medium heat.
• Butter the pan lightly and pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan, swirling the pan until the batter spreads evenly in the pan.
• Cook crepes on medium heat for about 1 minute or until lightly browned.
• Bake on 1 side only, do not turn over.
• Continue to cook the crepes, buttering the frying pan each time.
• Place the cooked crepes on a platter and keep warm in the oven at 250°F.
• TO MAKE CHEESE FILLING.
• Place the cottage cheese in a cheese cloth and squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
• Transfer the cheese to a mixing bowl.
• Add egg yolks, cream salt, and dill weed and mix to blend well.
• Remove warmed crepes from the oven and increase oven temperature to 350°F.
• Separate and place 1 crepe with the brown side down on a smooth surface.
• Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon of cheese filling near one edge of the crepe.
• Start rolling the crepe over the filling, tuck in each side to prevent the filling from falling out, and continue to roll.
• Continue to fill and roll the remaining crepes.
• Place the finished nalysnyky into a lightly buttered 13 inch by 9 inch oven proof casserole dish in layers.
• Dot each layer with some butter.
• Bake in preheated 350 F oven for 20 minutes.
• Serve hot with melted butter, a dollop of sour cream or yogurt.

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.

BLINTZES (NALESNIKI)

Steps:

• First, you need to decide how many blintzes you'd like to make! I usually make the recipe x 5 or 6 because I like to have some for a few days. The recipe x 5 or 6 will make roughly 20 blintzes. It also depends on how much cheese you have, but don't worry. If you don't have enough cheese, you can fill them with other fillings....see below.
• Recipe x 3: 9 eggs, 9 T. flour, 1 1/2 cup milk, 3 T. sugar. Recipe x 4: 12 eggs, 12 T. flour, 2 cups milk, 4 T. sugar. Recipe x 5: 15 eggs, 15 T. flour, 2 1/2 cups milk, 5 T. sugar. Recipe x 6: 18 eggs, 18 T. flour, 3 cups milk, 6 T. sugar.
• In a large bowl, mix eggs with a hand mixer.
• Add sugar, flour and milk. Mix well with the hand mixer.
• In a separate bowl, mix the cheese, egg, cinnamon, sugar and sour cream together with hand mixer, until creamy. If it's not creamy enough, you can add more sour cream, but don't overdo it because the cheese will be too soft. Set aside for use later.
• Preheat a medium or large sized pan. Spray with cooking spray.
• Using a ladle, scoop small amounts of the egg liquid onto the hot pan. Move the pan around to cover evenly. Cook each side for about half a minute to a minute, turning once with a spatula.
• After each blintz, spray the pan with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
• Have a plate ready to put each cooked blintz onto after they are done cooking.
• Once all the blintzes are ready, you are ready to fill them with the cheese filling.
• Starting at one end, put a large spoonful and spread from one end to the other, but not covering the whole blintz. Carefully, fold the edges in about an inch or so and roll the blintz to form a long package. You can also fold them to form squares....folding all sides to make a square.
• You are all done....now it's time to enjoy!! If you run out of cheese and have blintzes left, you can fill them with jam or Nutella as well. They are best served warm. You can add whipped topping or powdered sugar as well. I like to add Cinnamon sugar to the top of mine! Enjoy!