Weekend Brekkie: Blintzes

oes anybody have an easy blintz recipe that you've tried and liked? I've only had blintzes or crepes a handful of times in my life, but for some reason, I can't get them off my mind! I found the following recipe and photo online. Don't they look great?

The Shell:

4 eggs1 ½ cups of flour1 ½ cups of milk½ teaspoon salt2 tablespoons sugar

Beat the eggs and milk together. Then gradually sift in the flour, salt and sugar. The mixture must be thin and so if it happens that it comes out thick, add a bit more milk.
Melt margarine in a large frying pan and when hot, put about 3 tablespoons of the batter into the pan, tilting the frying pan to make the blintz thin. Cook each crepe-pancake until it just begins to brown and slide out of pan on to a waiting plate. Put the cooked side up to receive the filling.
 

Filling:
This should be prepared before the shell so that it may be added when the shell is ready.

2 packages of light cream cheese of your liking 2 egg yolks mixed well3 teaspoons of melted butter6 teaspoons of vanilla flavored sugar 1 pinch salt

Mix filling ingredients together until they are smooth.

Place a heaping tablespoon of the filling in the center of the crepe-pancake. Fold over from the four sides to protect the filling from leaking out. Roll over to seal blintz; it should look like a flat cigar.

At this point the blintzes may be fried to be served now or frozen for later consumption.
To serve they must be fried again in margarine until the shell is a golden brown. If you want to enhance an already great delight, mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top of the blintz. Even better, put it in a small bowl so that the individual eater may decide for him/herself how much he desires. Or it may be served with jelly.

This recipe should give you about 15 to 18 blintzes

UPDATE: My brother tried this recipe and they didn't quite turn out. Because of his experience and recommendations, I found an article where I got the following information that will maybe help when try the recipe:

Many cooks meet their downfall when preparing the blintz, because the blintz very frequently sticks to the pan or fails to cook properly. Cookbooks recommend using a crepe pan so size is controlled. Overfilling the pan is a common mistake. Only about two or three teaspoons are needed to cover the pan and create a thin blintz. A nonstick or well-oiled pan that is properly heated can also make flipping and removing the blintz easier.
Other recommendations for preparing the blintz suggest allowing the batter to sit for at least thirty minutes prior to cooking. The batter can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days. When the batter has a resting period, the wheat becomes less glutinous, resulting in a thinner pancake.
When filling the blintz, most cooks recommend waiting until the pancake has fully cooled. The filled blintzes should be added to a hot pan, and cooked first on the fold side. Blintzes should be served hot. The fruit variety is especially good when a dollop of sour cream is added.

I'm trying this for our next weekend breakfast. I'll post whether it turns out or not. Here's hoping! Happy Monday, all!

Butter Tart Tutorial

made this last Saturday night and we had it for Easter dessert. My first time ever making a tart and it was so good! The best way I can describe the filling is that it's similar in texture to the stuff in pecan pie, only not topped with nuts. It's very, very sweet, though. It would have to be a once in a while treat for us.


First make your crust. Here's my easy crust recipe. So easy you don't even have to roll it. Now that's my kind of crust!:

• 3/4 cup butter (I used margarine, but in the future, I'd use the real stuff) at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour, all purpose

Directions

1. Dump all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well blended.
2. Pat into a 9 inch pie pan. As with all crusts, DO NOT stretch! Pat evenly into place and up the sides of your dish.
3. Use a fork to prick holes all over so the crust will bake evenly.
4. Add filling and bake according to recipe instructions. For most pies/tarts, I'm guessing you could leave as is or bake beforehand, whichever you prefer.

On to the filling recipe, the original of which can be found here. The opinions and suggestions for things to do while you make it is my odd way of making it more interesting.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup corn syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Unbaked tart shells ( I used one big pie pan instead of making individual tarts. It's all about easy!)

Preheat oven to 350F. Boil corn syrup with sugar for 5 minutes, until fully dissolved. Lift your toddler up for a peek so he can declare the mixture "Prilly!" and then allow him to rummage in the kitchen drawers so he can pretend to "Gook" like Mama.

Add butter and stir well, trying to make artsy swirly designs with the quickly melting medium. Ooh and aah with aforementioned toddler and then heave a collectively sad sigh when the pretty yellow swirls disappear. Let cool until just warmer than room temp.

Here's what it looked like after the butter was melted in and it was set aside to cool.

This is the part where you realize you forgot to prick holes in the crust and rush to correct the problem. It's a good thing you had to wait for the filling to cool! Dash down the hall like a mad woman to see what just made your little boy scream like he was getting his fingers chopped off. After soothing the little adventurer, who somehow managed to lock himself in a closet, settle him with hugs and a snack to munch on and get back to the kitchen! Grab a fork and randomly prick holes all over the crust to the beat of "Camptown Races" as your child tries to laugh at you and not choke on his snack at the same time.

Meanwhile, (after saving your crust from perhaps coming out like hardtack) in a mixing bowl, beat eggs and vanilla. Add egg mixture to sugar syrup.

Stop what you are doing and put your child down for naptime and return to the kitchen to (hopefully) complete this tart in peace. Pour filling into unbaked tart shells or really huge tart shell masquerading as a pie crust (about 2/3 full). Bake for about 15 minutes. Time may vary depending on how large your butter tarts are. No kidding. Tartzilla took nearly an hour to be non jiggly in the center.

Voilà! Let cool and enjoy with an unsweet beverage to avoid sugar shock.  Feel free to repost these recipes and try 'em yourself. You might find a new favorite!

The Price of Beauty

I saw a commercial for Jessica Simpson's reality show The Price of Beauty and the idea intrigued me so much that I have just watched the first two episodes online. Having grown up in a South Pacific culture but now living in the US, being constantly bombarded by images of how people in mainstream fashion believe I should look is deeply unsettling. I've never had 100% positive self esteem, but the messages being machine gunned down my throat on billboards, TV and even radio are sometimes overwhelming and have me questioning what I believe beauty to be. Do I believe something is beautiful because that is what I think, or because that is what has been dictated to me as beauty? I don't quite know the answer to that question, but I'm slowly sifting through the rubble in my mind to find what I truly think about beauty and about what I believe is beautiful about myself. Now, in the past, I've been frustrated with Jessica Simpson and her tendency to appear airheaded at times. There were a few moments in the first episode where I thought she was being disrespectful, but she admitted she was wrong (which doesn't change what happened, but oh well) but the idea behind the show has some merit. At least, I believe it does. Instead of the all around exploitation of other reality shows, this show is trying to teach something. It really makes me stop and think about the preconceived notion of beauty. All around the world there are different standards of beauty. Most cultures see another culture's beauty standards as bizarre, but is peer pressure at fault in all these instances? Did someone somewhere decide something was beautiful and everyone else just jump on the bandwagon without asking why? I don't know. But it makes me reconsider my perception of beauty and strengthens my resolve to find inner beauty and not put so much stock on outer beauty. I still like my makeup and girly clothes; I just want to remember that I'm me with the same intellect and talent and compassion whether I'm all gussied up or not.