Fry

Lemony Cheese Blintzes

by:
October  7, 2011
4.3
3 Ratings
Lemony Cheese Blintzes
Photo by Ty Mecham
  • Serves 6 to 8
Author Notes

These blintzes are light, lemony and not too sweet. Our office mate Avi shared the recipe with me, which is his grandmother's, and I've been wanting to make it for months now. I finally did, and let's just say I'll be making it for years to come. —Merrill Stubbs

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • The Pancakes
  • 1 cup milk, plus more if needed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for frying
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 piece Butter for frying
  • The Filling
  • 2 7.5-ounce packages (Avi's grandmother recommends Friendship brand) farmer cheese, salted
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions
  1. To make the pancake batter, whisk together the milk, eggs, oil and salt in a large bowl. Add the flour gradually, whisking constantly until the batter is smooth. Set aside.
  2. Stir together all of the filling ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
  3. Set an 8-inch frying pan (I used a non-stick crepe pan) on medium heat. When the pan is hot, add a swipe of butter. Pour in 2 to 3 tablespoons of the pancake batter, swirling the pan to create a thin pancake. (If the batter seems to thick and you have trouble swirling it evenly in the pan, whisk in a little more milk.) Cook the pancake about 30 seconds, until the top looks dry and the edges start to curl. Use your fingers or a spatula to remove the pancake and set aside on a plate to cool. Then, make as many more pancakes as the batter will allow.
  4. Let the pancakes cool a little. Lay out about 4 pancakes, pale side up, and put about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of each. Fold each of the pancakes up into a square package, making sure the corners are completely closed.
  5. Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil and 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook the blintzes in batches until deep golden brown and warmed through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with applesauce on the side if you like.
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  • loubaby
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  • Merrill Stubbs
    Merrill Stubbs
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16 Reviews

Darian
Darian July 2, 2019
I made these as a "breakfast for dinner" tonight, using ricotta instead of farmer's cheese. Probably I should have drained the ricotta, as the filling was a little more liquid than I think it should have been. Otherwise, they were absolutely delicious! They were plenty sweet without any powdered sugar. I served with fresh blackberries. These would be perfect for brunch.
 
witloof
witloof April 30, 2018
Wow, this brings back fragrant childhood memories. My grandmother made these from time to time. We called them "blintzies." I had forgotten about that until recently when a childhood friend made a reference to "challie," which is how her family pronounced challah.
 
Robin
Robin February 19, 2014
You ignited some fond family memories with this recipe! My grandmother was born on a dairy farm in Brooklyn in 1895. Her parents made farmers' cheese and sold it to the neighborhood families. Now that I live in an area of RI that is 99.9% Italian,I have seen another kind of cheese that is called Ricotta Salatta, which is a firmer, compressed version of ricotta. It is also a bit saltier. I think a mixture of the two cheeses might come closer to the consistency of real farmers' cheese. I apologize if I spelled the name of this cheese incorrectly. Thank you for a recipe I had forgotten living in the diaspora outside the city of New York.


 
loubaby
loubaby November 28, 2013
This turned out fantastic...delicious flavor and yes so light...my mom loved them....thanks so much for sharing...
 
MaryDD
MaryDD December 4, 2012
Any suggestions on how long these might keep or a freezing and then thawing strategy?
 
walkie74
walkie74 September 24, 2012
I'm guessing cream cheese probably wouldn't work here...?
 
Merrill S.
Merrill S. September 24, 2012
It would be different, that's for sure -- a lot more rich and salty. Maybe worth a shot, though?
 
MrsWheelbarrow
MrsWheelbarrow November 4, 2011
I made these with ricotta (homemade!) Tasted like my grandmother's - the lemon zest is perfection. She never served applesauce on the side - either her home canned blueberry sauce or sour cream, a squeeze of lemon, and a sprinkling of sugar.
 
Merrill S.
Merrill S. October 30, 2011
loretak, yes, ricotta should work just fine. Please accept my apologies for the very belated response.
 
nhhillrider
nhhillrider December 17, 2011
I use small curd cottage cheese all the time for blintzes. Its a wetter version but it still tastes great. I guess comes down to your preference of ricotta vs cottage cheese.
 
Merrill S.
Merrill S. October 30, 2011
My sincere apologies, davegorf: I didn't receive email alerts when you or loretak commented (still working out some bugs with the new site), but I just received fredthejazzman's reminder -- twice, no less! In answer to your question, it may help to look at the photo slideshow attached to this recipe. You basically fold two opposite sides towards each other and over the filling until the rounded edges meet, and then do the same with the other two sides, thereby forming a square shape!
 
Jana
Jana January 16, 2022
There are no photos of the folding, so I don't understand why the photos are pertinent to the question. I looked twice. Anyway, these look delicious!!
 
davegorf
davegorf October 12, 2011
These look great. Can you elaborate a little on the folding? Round pancake to square package??? Thanks.
 
fredthejazzman
fredthejazzman October 30, 2011
I AM SURPRISED THAT 18 DAYS LATER YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN AN ANSWER TO YOUR QUSTION
 
fredthejazzman
fredthejazzman October 30, 2011
I AM SURPRISED THAT 18 DAYS LATER YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN AN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION
 
loretak
loretak October 10, 2011
We can't get farmers cheese in our area, think ricotta would work about the same?