Yogurt Blini Bar Recipes

BLINI WITH CAVIAR AND YOGURT TOPPING

Steps:

• Place the onion in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let sit for five minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water. Drain on paper towels.
• Place the yogurt in a bowl, and stir in the onion, chopped eggs, chives and caviar. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Warm the blini in a low oven or in a microwave. Top each with a spoonful of the yogurt mixture and serve.

YOGURT BARK

Steps:

• Line two 9-inch rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Whisk together yogurt, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Divide mixture between the 2 baking sheets and spread out using a spatula until about 1/4-inch thick. Scatter sliced almonds, dried blueberries, and cacao nibs evenly over each baking sheet.
• Place baking sheets in the freezer for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Remove from freezer and roughly break or slice into about 2 dozen pieces.

YAM BLINIS WITH BROWN SUGAR-GINGER SAUCE

Steps:

• Dissolve white sugar and yeast in warmed milk. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
• Pierce yam in several places in a fork. Cook in the microwave until soft, about 7 minutes. Mash with a fork on a small plate.
• Whisk egg and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.
• Sift whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Add milk mixture, mashed yam, and egg mixture; stir until batter is the consistency of sour cream.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; grease with cooking spray. Drop 1/4 cup batter onto the skillet; cook until edges are dry, 30 to 40 seconds. Flip and cook until browned on the other side, about 30 seconds more. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet between batches.
• Combine 1/2 cup milk, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, ginger, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until smooth and thick, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour over blinis.

SWEET BLINI

Steps:

• Make batter:
• Stir together yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and warm water in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast, sugar, and warm water.)
• Transfer yeast mixture to a blender and add flour, salt, milk, and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, then blend until combined. Pour into a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Let stand in a warm, draft-free place until almost doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Return mixture to blender and add eggs and 2 tablespoons butter. Blend until smooth.
• Make blini:
• Lightly brush a 10-inch nonstick skillet with melted butter, then heat over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Holding skillet off heat, pour in 1/3 cup batter, immediately tilting and rotating skillet to coat bottom. (If batter sets before skillet is coated, reduce heat slightly.) Return skillet to heat and cook crêpe until underside and edges are just set and golden, about 1 1/2 minutes. (Loosen edge of crêpe with a heatproof rubber spatula to check.) Flip crêpe over carefully with your fingertips. Cook until other side is golden, about 1 minute more. Transfer crêpe to a plate. Brush skillet with more melted butter and make 7 more crêpes in same manner, stacking them as made and brushing skillet between each crêpe.
• Purée preserves and lemon juice in a food processor until smooth. Spread 1/2 tablespoon preserves on a crêpe and fold in eighths to form a triangle. Repeat with remaining preserves and crêpes.
• Brush a 12-inch heavy skillet with remaining butter and arrange crêpes in 1 layer with points at center of skillet. Cook over moderate heat until crêpes are beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes, then flip crêpes over with a spatula and cook 1 minute more. Transfer to a platter and dust with confectioners sugar.

BUCKWHEAT BLINI

Steps:

• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water in a large bowl. Stir in the lukewarm milk, and let stand for five minutes until creamy.
• Sift together the flours and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk into the yeast mixture. Whisk in the buttermilk or yogurt, the oil or melted butter, and the egg yolks. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise in a warm spot for one hour or longer until bubbly.
• Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold them into the batter. Cover again, and allow to rise for another 30 minutes until bubbly.
• Lightly grease a heavy nonstick or cast iron griddle, and heat over medium heat until hot. For bite-size blini that you can pass as hors d'oeuvres, ladle on 1 to 2 tablespoons of batter for each silver-dollar-size blini. For larger, pancake-sized blini, ladle on about 1/4 scant cup per blini. Cook until holes break through the upper side, about a minute. Turn and brown on the other side for about 30 seconds. Remove to a rack or a plate. If serving right away, wrap them in a towel or place them in a low oven to keep warm. If not serving right away, wrap them in foil and reheat them for about 20 minutes in a 325-degree oven. To freeze, stack them between pieces of parchment or wax paper, and wrap them airtight in plastic, then foil. To thaw, remove them from the plastic, rewrap them in foil, and place them in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. Alternately, remove the foil and thaw them in a microwave oven.