Mini Blini Food

EASY BLINI (RUSSIAN PANCAKE)

Steps:

• Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
• Whisk 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk, egg, and 1 tablespoon melted butter together in a separate bowl. Mix into the flour mixture until batter is fully combined.
• Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Drop batter, 1 tablespoon at a time, onto the heated skillet. Cook until bubbles form, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until brown, about 1 minute more. Lay on plate lined with a paper towel to help soak up excess butter. Repeat with the remaining batter.

BLINI (RUSSIAN PANCAKES)

Steps:

• Beat together the milk and the eggs. Stir in the salt and the sugar and mix well. Add the baking soda and citric acid.
• Blend in the flour. Add the vegetable oil and pour in the boiling water, stirring constantly. The batter should be very thin, almost watery. Set the bowl aside and let it rest for 20 minutes.
• Melt a tablespoon of butter in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Pick the pan up off the heat. Pour in a ladleful of batter while you rotate your wrist, tilting the pan so the batter makes a circle and coats the bottom. The blini should be very thin.
• Return the pan to the heat. Cook the blini for 90 seconds. Carefully lift up an edge of the blini to see if it's fully cooked: the edges will be golden and it should have brown spots on the surface. Flip the blini over and cook the other side for 1 minute.
• Transfer the blini to a plate lined with a clean kitchen towel. Continue cooking the blini, adding an additional tablespoon of butter to the pan after each 4 blini. Stack them on top of each other and cover with the kitchen towel to keep warm.
• Spread your favorite filling in the center of the blini, and fold three times to make a triangle shape. You can also fold up all 4 sides, like a small burrito.

MINI-BLINI

Steps:

• Combine flours, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl. Stir in warm milk, butter and eggs and mix until smooth.
• Set bowl aside in a warm place such as an oven with pilot light on and allow to rise until double in volume, about two hours. Stir batter.
• Heat a large, heavy skillet and lightly butter it. Make blini with about a tablespoon of batter each, turning them as they brown and browning the other side. You should be able to fit four blini in a 10-inch skillet. As the blini are finished cooking, place them on a baking sheet in an oven heated to 150 degrees to keep warm.
• Serve blini topped with sour cream and more or less of whichever kind of caviar your taste and budget may allow.

BLINIS

Steps:

• Cream the yeast with a little milk, then add the remaining milk, the egg yolks and sour cream.
• Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and add the yeast mixture. Stir to make a thick batter. Leave for at least 1 hour in a warm place. The batter should now look bubbly. Stir well. Just before cooking, whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter.
• Heat a little oil in the pan and pour off any excess. Then pour in a tablespoon of batter. Turn the pancake over when it shows bubbles on the top side. Cook lots. One bliny is never enough.

BLINI WITH SMOKED SALMON

Steps:

• Combine both flours, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and 1 tablespoon of the clarified butter, then whisk into the flour mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon of the clarified butter in a medium saute pan and drop the batter into the hot skillet, 1 tablespoon at a time. Cook over medium-low heat until bubbles form on the top side of the blini, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 more minute, or until brown. Repeat with the remaining batter. (I clean the hot pan with a dry paper towel between batches.) Set aside.
• To serve, top the blini with a piece of smoked salmon. Add a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprig of dill.

MINI BLINIS FOR BRUNCH

Steps:

• Combine cream cheese, sugar and yolks in mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
• Flatten each slice of bread with rolling pin and spread with some of cream cheese mixture.
• Roll jelly roll fashion and dip in melted butter.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar to taste.
• (If preparing ahead, place in a single layer on baking sheet and freeze. When solidly frozen, transfer to plastic bags and return to freezer until ready to use).
• When ready to serve, preheat oven to 400°F.
• Leave blinis whole or cut each in half and place on baking sheet.
• Bake until light golden brown, fresh blinis 8 to 10 minutes, or frozen blinis (thawing is unnecessary) 10 to 15 minutes.
• Serve hot accompanied by sour cream and jelly on the side.
• To Busy To Cook.