Blintz Pancakes with Strawberry Filling

I needed some dinner inspiration the other day. I didn’t take anything out of the freezer to thaw out in time for dinner. I started flipping through my new to me favorite cookbook “Enchanted Broccoli Forest” by Mollie Katzen and had a crazy brain idea to try to make blintz pancakes for dinner.

I have always loved breakfast for dinner. One of my favorite things I remember my mom making on occasion are crepes. I haven’t tasted a crêpe yet I didn’t love but I feel like they are a lot of pressure to make at home. The perfect stove temperature, pan and batter mixed just right and let’s not forget the essential wrist flip.

I have no cooking education/training other than what I work through everyday in my kitchen. The crepes felt out of my league just yet but then I read about blintzes and thought…maybe I could try. If they didn’t work we would either eat cereal or pizza. Not so bad.

Blintzes are (according to Mollie Katzen, Enchanted Broccoli Forest) just like crepes but they are only cooked on one side. So, no expert flipping knowledge required.

They have a sweet filling or cheese filling and are very tasty.

Ingredients: (makes about 18 pancakes)

For Pancakes–

3 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

1 1/3 cups milk (low-fat okay)

2 Tbs melted butter, plus more melted butter for sautéing

For Filling–

3 cups of fruit (fresh or frozen, defrosted and drained)

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs. unbleached white flour

sugar or honey to taste (I used agave nectar and it tasted great)

optional– a dash of cinnamon and/or a drop of almond extract

**I used frozen strawberries but this isn’t a traditional blintz filling. Traditional fillings are whole blueberries, sliced, pitted cherries, or peeled, sliced peaches.

How to Make:

1) Place fruit in a medium-sized saucepan all by itself. Cook it, partially covered at medium heat for 5 minutes.

2) Stir in lemon juice and sprinkle in flour as you continue to stir. Cook another 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently. Mid-way through the 5 minutes add your preferred sugar (sugar/honey/agave) and any optional seasonings.

3) Remove from heat and let cool for at least 15 minutes before filling blintz pancakes

cooling strawberry filling

4) Now it is time to make the blintz pancakes. Combine the eggs, salt, flour, milk and 2 Tbs. of melted butter and beat well. My book suggested to do this in a blender, I didn’t (due to the extra step and not reading ahead before I started this recipe) but will next time, my batter was a little lumpy from the butter and flour together but, worked just fine.

5) Use a 6 inch ( I don’t have a 6 inch pan dedicated to omelets so I used my 8 inch pan) crêpe or omelet pan, if it isn’t a non-stick pan brush lightly with butter or cooking spray. Heat up the pan to a medium temperature and then pour in a small amount of batter. Tilt the pan in all directions until the pan is thinly covered with batter. Cook over medium heat until the edges of the pancake begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. This will happen quickly (about 1 to 3 minutes depending on how thick your pancake is).

edges pulling up

**I was really intimidated by this step but after a couple of “test cases” I got the hang of it. It all depends on how much batter you put in the pan and the consistency of the heat. When I poured what looked like a good amount for a traditional pancake and then tipped the pan around to coat it with the batter, I found the best results.

6) Once the edges are pulling away and it looks lightly browned on the bottom turn out the pancake, cooked side up on a clean, dry towel. Continue steps 5 and 6 until you run out of batter.

My first attempt at “turning out”. I told you I was a beginner!

I got better at this process each time I made a new pancake. The light ones are the first ones I made and the darker are the last ones.

7) After all your batter is now turned into pancakes it is time to fill them. Use 1 heaping Tbs. of filling for each blintz pancake.

blintz pancake and strawberry filling

8) Fold the pancake in half over the filling. Then fold the sides into the middle. Finally, roll it up and set aside on a plate or platter.

Folded blintz pancake

9) You can either place the folded and filled blintz pancakes in the refrigerator and sauté later that day or in the freezer for another day( if frozen just defrost and heat in 325 degree oven until warm). Or you can sauté them right away like I did.

10) To sauté use butter, my recipe book says 1 Tbs for every three blintz pancakes but I thought that was over doing it. I probably used 1 Tbs of butter for 8-10 blintz pancakes. Heat the pan to medium-hot and sauté on both sides until golden brown and slightly crisp. Serve right away.

Almost ready!

Time to serve them and watch them disappear. They were really tasty.

YUM.

I have a few things to perfect about these yummy blintz pancakes. I will sauté them longer next time, the outside was a little soft for me in places. The filling was delicious so no changes there. I will probably try the suggested toppings of yogurt, sour cream, fresh fruit or confections sugar next time. They were really good paired with some blackberries and eggs.

A great breakfast for dinner. The overall preparing and cooking time was about an hour. I don’t think at this point in my family’s life I could spend an hour in the morning making this, my children would rebel. It worked out great for dinner because my boys just know I have to spend extra time in the kitchen cooking dinner.

I am really interested: What is your favorite breakfast for dinner?

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