These cheese blintzes combine a sweet cheese filling with a pan-fried crepe, making them a terrific dessert but an even better breakfast. Just sweet enough, with a touch of vanilla, they’re filling and oh-so satisfying.
There are a lot of people with very strong feelings regarding the best cheese blintz recipe. We’re not going to tell you this blintz recipe is better than your Bubbe’s. We’re just saying this recipe turns out a damn fine cheese blintz.
The secret—one of them, anyways—is that the filling contains farmer cheese rather than ricotta or cottage cheese. As for the other secrets, you’ll just have to try these and see.—David Leite
☞ Contents
Why our testers loved this
Anya L. loved that “these cheese blintzes were very easy to assemble and made a delicious dish” and Sue E. proclaimed them “a winner”.
Notes on ingredients
- Farmer cheese–This is a dry curd fresh cheese. It’s the best choice for the filling, but if you can’t find any, you can use well-drained or dry-curd ricotta. Be sure to remove as much moisture as possible to avoid soggy blintz.
- Clarified butter--Using clarified butter for frying your blintz will avoid any browned or burnt butter solids. You can also substitute store-bought or homemade ghee.
How to make this recipe
- Make the cheese filling. Combine the cheese, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and chill until you are ready to use.
- Make the crepe batter. Blend the eggs and water thoroughly, then beat in the flour and salt until no lumps remain.
- Heat a buttered omelet pan or skillet over medium heat until hot. Pour in 2 tablespoons batter and cook until golden on one side, then transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.
- Fill the blintz. Working with one pancake at a time, place 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of the unbrowned side of the pancake, and fold it up, burrito-style. Repeat with remaining pancakes and filling.
- Heat the clarified butter in a skillet. Working in batches, fry the cheese blintz until golden on all sides. Serve hot.
Recipe FAQs
What is a blintz?
Blintz are thin pan-fried crepes that are filled with a sweetened cheese mixture, wrapped, and fried in butter. The filling is usually made with farmer’s cheese, and lightly sweetened with sugar.
How do I make clarified butter?
Clarified butter has had the milk solids removed, making it less likely to burn.
To make clarified butter, melt 2 sticks of butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 2 minutes. Skim and discard any foam from the surface, then pour the clear, oily-looking butter into a container (this is the part you want to keep), and discard the milky residue from the bottom.
Is there a substitute for farmer’s cheese?
We caution you not to use just any cheese in this recipe—you won’t get the intended results. If you can’t find any, you can try making your own farmer’s cheese—it’s pretty easy to do. Otherwise, the only substitute that would be acceptable is dry-curd ricotta cheese.
Can I freeze cheese blintzes?
Yes, they can be made ahead of time and frozen before use. Just complete all of the steps up through filling them, but make sure to skip frying. When you’re ready to enjoy them, fry them in butter while still frozen.
What do you serve with cheese blintzes?
You can serve the blintz topped with sour cream, or for a sweeter version, try homemade jam and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar. A dollop of lemon curd would also be lovely.
Helpful tips
- If your crepe batter is lumpy, strain it before cooking the crepes. You don’t want any lumps in the batter.
- Use a nonstick skillet for making your crepes. This will make flipping them easier.
- To make a cinnamon-raisin variation, add 1/2 cup raisins and 3 tablespoon of cinnamon to the cheese filling.
- The uncooked cheese blintz can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Store them between layers of parchment paper. If frozen, fry directly from frozen.
- Cooked cheese blintz can be stored in the fridge for 1 day or frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, thaw overnight and reheat in a 350°F oven until heated through.
More great crepe recipes
☞ If you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
Cheese Blintz
Ingredients
For the cheese filling
- Two (8-oz) packages farmer cheese
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the pancakes
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups cold water
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/3 cup clarified butter
Directions
Make the cheese filling
- Combine the cheese, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate.
Make the pancakes
- In a bowl, combine the eggs and water and blend thoroughly. Beat in the flour and salt. The mixture will be runny but should have no lumps. (If there are lumps, strain the pancake batter.)
- Pour 2 tablespoons of batter into a hot, generously buttered 7-inch omelet pan or similarly sized skillet over medium-high heat. Rotate the skillet so the bottom of the pan is covered evenly.
- Cook for 3 or 4 minutes on one side, or until golden. It may be necessary to reduce the heat to medium. Flip the pancake onto a plate, uncooked side down, and repeat this process using all the batter, adding more butter to the pan or skillet as necessary. Stack one pancake on top of the other, uncooked side down. At this point, the pancakes are ready to be filled.
Assemble the blintzes
- Working with one pancake at a time, place it on your work surface, browned side down. Place 2 heaping tablespoons filling on 1/2 the unbrowned side of the pancake. Fold the pancake over once to cover the filling. Fold in the sides of the pancake. Continue rolling the blintz. Set it aside and repeat with the remaining ingredients.
- Warm the remaining clarified butter in a skillet over medium heat. Place a few blintzes, seam side down, in the skillet, and sauté until golden on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Repeat with the remaining blintzes and serve hot with sour cream.
Notes
- Cinnamon-raisin variation–Add 1/2 cup raisins and 3 tablespoon of cinnamon to the cheese filling.
- Make-ahead–The uncooked blintz can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Store them between layers of parchment paper. If frozen, fry directly from frozen.
- Storage–Cooked blintz can be stored in the fridge for 1 day or frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, thaw overnight and reheat in a 350°F oven until heated through.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This cheese blintz recipe is definitely a winner! Although blintzes are time-consuming to make, they’re definitely worth it. If you’re short on time you can always make the bletlach (pancakes) one day, refrigerate them, and then make the blintzes the following day.
I’ve also made the bletlach and frozen them, layered them with sheets of waxed paper between the pancakes, and then defrosted them when ready to make the blintzes. And I have also made blintzes to the point of assembling them and then freezing them raw and then defrosting and cooking them. Whichever way you do it, you’ll be happy you made them and wish you had made more.
If you’ve never made crepes before, the first few can be somewhat frustrating, and probably the first 1 to 3 will be throwaways, but once you get into the rhythm of it you’ll be amazed at how simple it is. Using a Teflon-coated pan can make a big difference, also. I started my pan on medium-high heat but then turned it down to medium-low and each one took about 3 minutes.
The same thing applies to rolling the blintzes—once you get the hang of it, it goes very quickly. The filling was excellent. I took the author’s suggestion and mixed half a cup of raisins with 3 tablespoons cinnamon and added it to the filling. As a well-known TV personality would say, yummo!
My frying pan held 4 blintzes at a time, which were cooked on medium-low heat for about 4 minutes each. (By the way, my stove is gas so it’s difficult to tell the exact heat but everything was done at approximate medium heat).
I served them with plain sour cream. I did not use clarified butter; instead, I used regular unsalted butter. It’s important that there are no lumps in the batter. Some suggest straining the batter if there are lumps.
Also, the batter for the bletlach works better if you refrigerate it for about half an hour before using it. I’ve also made them using a filling of ground beef and sautéed onions, which my family calls “melintzes.”
These cheese blintzes were very easy to assemble and made a delicious dish. The heat was always medium and I buttered the pan after each pancake. I used a 9-inch pan and had a dozen pancakes.
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
What’s the size of the containers of farmers cheese? I’ve finally found a source for it, but want to make sure I’m at least in the same neighborhood, weight- or volume-wise. Thanks!
Ann, they should be 8-ounce (227-g) packages. Do let us know how it turns out!
This is the recipe I’ve used in the past – it’s from Ratner’s. Farmer’s cheese is nearly impossible to find unless you live in a town with a large Jewish population, so I DID substitute very well drained ricotta and was thrilled with the result. Squeezing out all the excess liquid was the key step. I was farklempt. Making them again this weekend after Yom Kippur.
Thanks, Roni. I’m so pleased that this turned out so well for you. Can’t wait to hear what you try next.
In case you do’t want to make your own: If I am not mistaken, clarified butter is the same as ghee, which you can find in Indian groceries and some food stores, such as Wegman’s.
Many thanks, Joanie B. Clarified butter and ghee can be used interchangeably although there is a slight difference between the two. Clarified butter is butter cooked just to the point where the milk solids separate and sink, whereas ghee is cooked a touch longer until the milk solids begin to caramelize. But yes, effectively, the same thing. Appreciate you sharing the tip and sources.
My Bubbe always used farmer cheese. And cinnamon. Ricotta? Raisins? Feh! 🙂
Hah! Thanks, Carin. Clearly you had a wonderful teacher in the art of the cheese blintz!