Blitzers Recipes

CHEESE BLINTZES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a cookie sheet generously with non-stick cooking spray.
• Trim crusts from bread and roll the slices flat.
• In a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon to make a mixture.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix softened cream cheese, milk and vanilla until smooth. Spread this mixture onto each slice of flattened bread. Roll each bread slice up. Dip bread/cream cheese rolls in melted butter, roll the blintzes immediately in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Cut rolls into 1 inch pieces. Arrange the blintzes on the prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

BAKED BLINTZES WITH FRESH BLUEBERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch cake pan or baking dish.
• For the batter, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and blend until smooth. (You can also use a blender.) Pour half the batter (about 1 3/4 cups) into the prepared dish and bake for 10 minutes, until set.
• Meanwhile, for the filling, whisk together the ricotta, mascarpone, eggs, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt and mix until thoroughly combined. Spread the cheese filling over the baked pancake. Carefully spoon the remaining pancake batter to cover the cheese.
• Return the pan to the oven and continue baking for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is lightly golden and the filling is almost set. Remove from the oven and allow to stand 10 to 15 minutes. Cut the blintzes in squares and serve warm with the Fresh Blueberry Sauce.
• Combine the orange juice, sugar, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. When the mixture is translucent and thickened, stir in the blueberries and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, just until a few berries have burst but most are still whole. Stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice and cool.

BLUEBERRY BLINTZES

Steps:

• Combine the milk, water, eggs, flour, salt and sugar in a blender. Blend on medium speed for 15 seconds, until the batter is smooth and lump-free. Scrape down the sides of the blender and pour in 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Blend it again for a second just to incorporate. Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour to let it rest. If the crepes are made immediately, they have a tendency to be rubbery; when you let the batter rest, the crepes have a better texture and a softer bite.
• Put an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet over medium heat and brush with a little melted butter for added assurance. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and swirl it around so it covers the bottom evenly; pour back any excess. Cook for 30 to 45 seconds, until the crepe batter sets. Lightly bang the edge of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen the crepe; then flip it and cook another 30 seconds. The art of flipping a crepe in the air takes practice, so make sure no one is looking when you get the first one going. If this intimidates you, use a heatproof rubber spatula to loosen and flip the crepe. The crepes should be pliable, not crisp, and lightly brown. Slide them onto a platter and continue making the crepes until all the batter is used. Cover the stack of crepes with a towel to keep them from drying out. This makes 10 crepes.
• Assembly: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Forming the blintzes is kind of like making burritos. Spoon 1/4 cup of the Cheese Filling along the lower third of the crepe. Fold the bottom edge away from you to just cover the filling; then fold the 2 sides in to the center. Roll the crepe away from you a couple of times to make a package, ending with the seam side down. Put an ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Brush with melted butter. Pan-fry the blintzes for 2 minutes per side until crisp and golden.
• Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 10 minutes so the egg in the filling cooks slightly and the cheese sets. Using a spatula, transfer the blintzes to serving plates. Spoon the Blueberry Sauce on top, dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve right away.
• Serve with chopped banana and remaining Blueberry Sauce. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
• In a food processor, combine the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, lemon zest, and egg and blend until smooth. Chill the filling to firm it up a bit so it doesn't squirt out of the blintzes.
• Combine the butter, blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a small pot over medium-high heat. Bring up to a low boil and stir gently until the berries break down and release their natural juices. The consistency should remain a bit chunky. It will thicken up when it cools down slightly.

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.

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.

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.

CHEESE BLINTZES

Steps:

• Filling:.
• Mix all ingredients.
• Beat well until smooth.
• Refrigerate.
• Blintzes:.
• Beat eggs, oil and milk well.
• Add flour and salt beat well.
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• For each blintz, melt 1 teaspoon butter in a 7" skillet.
• Pour in 1-1/2 teaspoons batter, spread batter completely over bottom of pan.
• Cover over medium heat until lightly browned on one side.
• Turn crepe over and brown the other side.
• Remove.
• Put 1 Tablespoon cheese on browned surface of each blintz.
• Fold and roll.
• Put in a glass baking dish and keep warm in oven.
• If necessary they could be frozen and when needed thaw and warm and then serve with a dollop of sour cream or a nice fruity syrup.

CHEESE BLINTZES

Steps:

• For the crepe: Beat milk, eggs and 1 cup water in a bowl. Add flour and powdered sugar to make a thin batter.
• Pour 1/4 cup batter on a well-buttered medium hot 10-inch fry pan, spreading it as thin as possible. Fry until light brown, then flip and brown other side until light brown. Turn out on wax paper. Repeat with remaining batter.
• For the cheese filling: Mix ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Spread evenly over the surface of a crepe. Tuck in ends and roll up. Cook in butter in a fry pan until brown on both sides. Repeat with remaining crepes and filling.
• Serve with sour cream and fruit preserves.

BLINTZES

Steps:

• With a whisk, beat eggs and milk together and add the salt. Gradually, a tablespoonful at a time, whisk in flour and beat until smooth. Heat a 6inch skillet and butter it lightly. Pour in enough batter to make a thin pancake. (If batter is too thick, add water to thin) Pour out excess back into the batter and don't worry if a "tab" forms on the side of the pan.
• Cook the blintz on one side only until the top blisters and it looks dry around the edges. Turn the blintz upside down onto a clean towel. Rebutter the skillet if need be, every 2 or 3 blintzes, and proceed until all the batter has been used up.
• Make assorted fillings, roll up and fry, or bake or freeze for another day.

APPLE & BLUEBERRY BLINTZES

Steps:

• Prepare pancakes following the classic recipe (see 'Goes well with').
• Beat together the mascarpone, vanilla extract, 1 tbsp of the sugar and the egg yolk until smooth and thoroughly combined, set aside. Melt half the butter in a large frying pan and add half the apples and half the remaining sugar. Cook until the apples are tender and starting to caramelise. Remove from the pan and cook remaining apples in the same way. Set aside. Add the blueberries to the pan, cook for 1-2 mins until they start to soften, remove from the pan and add half to the apples.
• Place all the ingredients for the sauce in a saucepan with 75ml of water and cook over a low heat until the blueberries start to break down. Push the mixture through a fine nylon sieve, taste and add sugar or lemon juice if needed. Add the reserved softened blueberries and pour into a jug for serving.
• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Lay the pancakes out on a work surface and divide the mascarpone mixture into the middle of each pancake in a neat dollop. Top the mascarpone with the apple and blueberry mixture and fold over the sides of the pancakes to completely encase the filling in a neat square parcel. Arrange the blintzes in an ovenproof dish seam side down and scatter with a little caster sugar plus a pinch of ground cinnamon.
• Bake on the middle shelf for about 10-15 mins or until warmed through. Serve 2 blintzes per person with the blueberry sauce alongside in a jug.

MAKE-AHEAD BLINTZ CASSEROLE

Steps:

• For filling, place first 6 ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl., Place batter ingredients in food processor; process until smooth. Pour half of the batter into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Drop tablespoons of filling over batter; cover with remaining batter. Refrigerate, several hours or overnight., Preheat oven to 350°. Remove casserole from refrigerator while oven heats. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes., Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add apples and lemon juice. Cook and stir 5-7 minutes or until apples are tender. Add brown sugar and salt; cook 1 minute longer or until thickened. Stir in extract; cool slightly. Serve with casserole.

"BLITZ"-BLINTZES

Steps:

• To make crêpes: Mix all ingredients together and blend until smooth.
• Leave in fridge for 1 hour before cooking.
• Fry spoonfuls at a time in butter or oil, spreading mixture thinly over the frying pan.
• Fry both sides until golden brown (makes approx. 8).
• To make the filling: Mix all the ingredients and spread over the crêpes.
• Fold into fan shapes or roll up.
• Top with berries and syrup.

BLINTZES FOR PASSOVER

Steps:

• For Batter:.
• Combine eggs, salt, and water. Add gradually to matzah cake meal, stirring hard to avoid lumps.
• Fry into thin pancakes on one side only.
• Place a rounded spoonful of filling onto each pancake.
• Fold envelope fashion -- one end, then both sides, then roll to close completely.
• Fry in oil.
• Note: you can make the blintzes ahead, then put them packed closely together in a baking dish, and reheat in a slow oven, and serve casserole style at the table.