Blintzes Nalesniki Food

POLISH NALESNIKI (BLINTZ) SWEET CHEESE FILLING

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Place the cheeses in the bowl of a food processor and puree until smooth.
• Add the remaining ingredients and process until fluffy.
• Use in crepes or other filled dumplings.
• Enjoy.

NALEśNIKI (POLISH SWEET OR SAVORY CREPES)

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a blender or food processor , combine flour, milk, water, eggs, butter, and salt and process until smooth.
• Transfer batter to a pitcher. Cover the pitcher with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes so liquid can be absorbed by the flour.
• Heat a crepe pan or small skillet over medium heat and lightly coat with butter. Using a 2-ounce ladle, spoon 1 portion of batter into pan.
• Immediately rotate pan and swirl batter until it covers the entire bottom of the pan. Cook until crepe is lightly brown or spotted brown on underside. Flip and cook second side until it is light brown.
• Remove crepe to waxed paper or parchment paper and repeat with remaining batter. You may need to recoat the pan with butter as you cook crepes.
• Place 2 heaping tablespoons of savory filling or sweet filling on each naleśniki. Fold sides in first and then fold bottom up, rolling away from yourself, similar to an egg roll or burrito.
• Filled naleśniki should then be pan-fried in butter over medium-high heat or baked in a buttered casserole dish at 350 F until the filling is set.

NALESNIKI AKA CREPES

Steps:

• For the batter:
• Mix all the ingredients well in a blender and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• For the filling:
• In a large bowl, add the cream cheese, sugar and the cherries. Combine well and reserve.
• Spray a frying pan with cooking spray. Pour 1/2 cup of batter into the pan and cook until firm (tan, not brown). Turn over and cook the other side. Transfer crepes to a large plate and repeat with remaining batter.
• Fill the crepes with the cheese filling and fold as desired. Arrange on a serving platter and serve hot, with whip cream and chocolate powder.

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.

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.