Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Cheese Blintzes – In a New York State of Mind

If you’re ever talking to someone who’s been to, or used to live in New York City, and the subject of cheese blintzes comes up, you will almost always see their face light up, like they just found a 20-dollar bill on the subway.

After they tell you where they’d get them, and how great they were, they usually turn a little melancholy, and tell you how much they miss them, and why can’t they get them around here. They’re not usually something someone thinks of to make at home, which is too bad, since they are pretty easy.

While there are several steps, they're fairly simple, and so totally worth the effort. In fact, you can prep everything ahead of time, and cook when you’re ready to serve. They also hold pretty well in a warm oven, so exact timing isn’t crucial, which is always nice when trying to serve a brunch.

I cook mine in clarified butter, which is simply melted butter with the white, foamy milk solids skimmed off the top. This prevents it from getting that nutty, toasted flavor, which some of you may actually prefer.

I also don’t like overly sweet blintzes, and use less sugar than many recipes, so taste and adjust. I hope you give these delicious cheese blintzes a try soon. Enjoy!


Makes between 10 and 12 Blintzes:
(depending on the size, and how much filling you use)
For the batter:
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (drained in a strainer if wet)
1/2 cup cream cheese
zest from one lemon
pinch salt
2 tablespoons powdered sugar, or more to taste
1 large egg
After stuffing and rolling, brown in butter, and bake at 325 F. for 12 minutes.

Serve with this raspberry sauce, and fresh berries.

31 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Chef John

I would love to try and make this for my mom as her birthday is coming up. But there is one problem..she doesn't like cheese, and even if she did like it the super market at our country barely sell those types of cheese. So I was wondering could i replace the filling with nutella?

bdwilcox said...

I liked the yolk impalement.

Chef John said...

I would not recommend replacing the cheese with nutella.

Chris said...

@ Hariz:
Maybe sliced banana and nutella could be good. Pure nutella would just be 'too much'.
Any other crepe type filling should work though.

Unknown said...

Maybe you can sauté (cook in a pan with butter) some fruit like bananas or apples, with some sugar added at the end until golden, smooth and caramelized and put it on the Blintzes.
If your mum really likes nutella, you can put a very fine layer of Nutella on the crepe and then put the cooked fruits on top. At this point, fold and do as mention on this lovely receipe for the rest of the process

Michelle said...

Would u be able to use only cream cheese by any chance?

Michelle said...

Would I be able to use only cream cheese by any chance?

Monty said...

How about using the cheese from your recipes "Homemade Cream Cheese – The Labneh Way" and "You Don't Have to Be a Cheese Whiz to Make Your Own Fromage Blanc". Will they work?

Chef John said...

Yes, I think that Labneh would work for the cream cheese part for sure!

Chef John said...

You could use all cream cheese, but I wouldn't recommend as the texture would be much runnier.

Unknown said...

Chef,
I was looking to bring these to a brunch get together, but was wondering if it would be acceptable to do the browning in the frying pan before hand and leave only the finishing in the oven to do once i have arrived. Do you think this would negatively affect the dish at all?

Unknown said...

I made blintzes for dessert at a Chanukah party I threw last December. Yours look better. I topped mine with a make shift berry compote I made with booze in it! Creme de cassis to be exact

Chef John said...

Connor, that usually works out fine! You may need to give a few extra minutes in the oven.

Chibby said...

Much,much better video quality then the old blintz video. Glad you're updating :)

Unknown said...

Chef John,

I just made your chicken and mushroom chimichangas the other day, which came out as delicious as always by the way. Now I just watched this recipe and thought it was funny how similar the recipes and their techniques were.

Also, I've been wanting to write you and let you know how much my girlfriend Katie and I really enjoy your recipes. Thank you so much for what you've taught me. (and my tastebuds thank you too!!)

Kosikutioner said...

Hi, we've made them tonight along with the sauce and are going to fry em up and bake tomorrow. In the sauce video you say it should be chilled with the cake. Should the sauce be chilled for the blintz too or warmed? Thanks!

Unknown said...

Hi Chef John, would these freeze well if they were pre-wrapped and thawed slightly before frying? Thank you!

Chef John said...

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure as I've never tried to freeze these. I know they are sold commercially frozen, but not sure how these would stay together.

Unknown said...

Dear chef John,

I found a way to combine 2 of your recipes. I replaced the cheese mix in the crepes by the mix of you chocolate decadence cake. After a couple trial and error with oven temp and time, I found the perfect cooking temperature and time to make the center barely set but still little bit soft as it cool. I served that new kind of blintzes on the raspberry sauce with fresh berries like the original and GOD, all the compliments I received from my friends that already tried the cheese blintzes I made before. One of them also told me that maybe humanity was not really ready for that kind of wonder.. ahahah.

So I really wanted to thanks you for those 3 recipes. I'm gonna stay tuned for your future recipes and as always... I enjoy!!

Unknown said...

Thank you again Chef John for another great recipe. I made these blintzes for my 90 year old mom. I did freeze (after filling them) about 2 dozen for her. I omitted the egg in the filling (I didn't feel comfortable freezing the egg for some reason). All she had to do was fry the frozen blintzes in butter until lightly brown. The blintzes came out perfect, defrosted and delicious!! 2 weeks later she asked for more, now that's a compliment!

Unknown said...

hey chef john i was wondering if it will be possible to use mascarpone cheese in place of the cream cheese.

Caniko said...

I was wondering why you brown the crepes in butter before putting them into the oven.

Unknown said...

Does the egg in the cheese filling ever cook in the process? Would you recommend baking longer if the filling is chilled?

Marcello Pecchenino said...

Chef John, I am starting my San Francisco Sourdough, I am a Disabled US Army Veteran living in the Philippines, so I hope it works here with the Humidity and all, I have a question;
1,. After I get the main starter going If I want to make Sourdough Ciabatta square sandwich Rolls for my Panini grill, How would I do it ? And how do you make enough sourdough Starter if you wanted to make 50 Sourdough Ciabatta square sandwich Rolls, How do you do the starter for that ? I guess you would use your main starter to get the rest going? and I want to keep them going to I can make them everyday for my sandwich business here! I hope you can help me ! You are amazing Thank you!

Unknown said...

i love you chef john!

RPCStudent1414 said...

I'm a 17 y/o college student home on Thanksgiving break. I made these for my parents this morning and they turned out perfectly. Super easy, just a tad bit time consuming. We loved them. Thanks, Chef John!

LDL said...

I've made these twice now with a blueberry sauce - they were a big hit! Thank you for this recipe. These are the best I've ever had!

Unknown said...

I made these, for the first time, a few days ago and they were wonderful. After 50 years of making blintzes this is my new go to. Thank you Chef.

Unknown said...

Can anyone tell me if these can be made entirely the day before (including the frying) and then finished in the oven the next day? I would like to make these for a Baby Shower brunch, and I don't know with all the busyness of shower set up that I would have time to do the frying that morning. They look awesome!

Unknown said...

On the video, you made the filling with some mascarpone cheese, but here that cheese is not listed among the ingredients. How much did you use for the filling?

Unknown said...

Can we replace eggs in the recipe by anything else? I'm a vegetarian.