Cheese Blintzes

With every season change, I go through recipes that I have saved since I was very young. It started when I would cut up recipes from McCall’s magazine and glue them on large index cards for my mother. Then I started doing it for myself.

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As I just turned 60 years old, you can only guess at how old many of these recipes are!

Recently I came across this old McCall’s recipe for blintzes. It gave me the idea to make blintzes for when I have overnight company soon.

Blintzes can be made the day before and re-heated gently the next morning. Plus, the little blintz packages are so pretty – much prettier than some breakfast casserole.

You need three parts to make blintzes. You need the crêpes, filling and sauce.

Cheese  Blintzes  with  Strawberry  Coulis

Sauce:
12 ounces fresh strawberries
1/3 cup sugar or to taste
2 tablespoons orange liqueur or orange juice

Filling:
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
Few drops of orange oil or 1 teaspoon orange zest, optional
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Melted butter, optional
Cinnamon sugar, optional

Crêpes; make a quadruple recipe.

To make the sauce, place the three ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Continue to cook until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 30 minutes.

Let cool slightly, then blend with an immersion blender. Cover and refrigerate if not using right away.

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To make the filling, place the cottage cheese in a food processor jar and process until smooth.

Scrape down the sides, then add the remaining ingredients and process until all combined.

Taste the filling. Personally, I prefer the sauce sweeter than the filling; you don’t want a sweet filling and a sweet sauce because this is not dessert. Also, the cinnamon should be fairly strong because it pairs so nicely with the fruit. If you can’t taste it, add some more. There are different grades and potencies of cinnamon.

Cover and refrigerate the filling if you’re not using it right away.

When you are ready to prepare the blintzes, have the crêpes at your work station either just cooked and still slightly warm, or at room temperature, if you made them the day before. If they are too chilled they will break instead of fold. Also have the filling on your work station.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter two baking pans to hold the blintzes in one layer.

Place about one heaping tablespoon of filling in the middle of a crêpe.

First fold over the front of the crêpe over the filling, then the left and right sides over the filling, then roll the whole thing over the remaining flap.

Gently pick up the blintz and place in the pan with the folded sides down. Continue with the remaining crêpes and filling.

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If you like, brush the tops of the crêpes with melted butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes, or just until golden. They will be puffy, but unfortunately they will unpuff within minutes. That’s ok – they’re still really good.

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Serve with the warm or room temperature strawberry coulis.

If you like, serve with a few fresh berries.

note: Some blintzes are sautéed in butter in a pan instead of baked. Those are also fabulous!
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By Published On: May 2nd, 201660 Comments on Cheese Blintzes

About the Author: Chef Mimi

As a self-taught home cook, with many years in the culinary profession, I am passionate about all things food-related. Especially eating!

60 Comments

  1. Cecile May 2, 2016 at 8:09 AM - Reply

    I have already PINNED this! What a great recipe – and I so love the idea that these can be made the day before and then gently reheated. YUMMY!! ; o )

  2. Travel Gourmet May 2, 2016 at 8:24 AM - Reply

    I’ve never made blintzes but these look wonderful. Lucky guests! I collected recipes from childhood too. I remember even putting food photos on my wall … slightly weird I must admit when everyone else was putting up pop stars but clearly my love of cooking was there from early on! :)

    • chef mimi May 2, 2016 at 8:30 AM - Reply

      Oh that’s funny! I don’t think I did rock stars or food!!! Blintzes really are fabulous, and they;re so pretty. It was challenging to photograph them, though!

  3. Jack & Barbra Donachy May 2, 2016 at 8:49 AM - Reply

    Mmmmm…blintzes are an all-time fave. My grandma used to make them stuffed with “farmer’s cheese.” I, like you, used a ricotta mixture. Thanks for posting this recipe!

  4. Nadia May 2, 2016 at 8:54 AM - Reply

    Maybe an oldie but a goody!

    • chef mimi May 2, 2016 at 2:00 PM - Reply

      Like crepes Suzette – they never get really old, right?!!

  5. Chica Andaluza May 2, 2016 at 9:35 AM - Reply

    Lovely recipe and I think my most treasured (and well used) book is the scrapbook with recipe cuttings from way back when!

  6. A Famished Foodie May 2, 2016 at 10:13 AM - Reply

    This looks so yummy! Not the healthiest breakfast, but certainly a delicious one

    • chef mimi May 2, 2016 at 2:03 PM - Reply

      I purposely never use much sugar in anything, really, but you’re right – a more fun breakfast – not a healthy one!!!

  7. Gerlinde de Broekert May 2, 2016 at 11:30 AM - Reply

    Happy late Birthday Mimi and welcome to the club. I love those old recipes from long ago. Your blintzes look fabulous. There is something about crepes that is very comforting.

    • chef mimi May 2, 2016 at 2:00 PM - Reply

      Thank you Gerlinde! 60 isn’t bad so far!

  8. Tasty Eats Ronit Penso May 2, 2016 at 11:35 AM - Reply

    One of my all times favorites! Love your addition of fresh strawberries sauce.
    Happy Birthday! :)

  9. The Gourmet Gourmand May 2, 2016 at 1:31 PM - Reply

    Omg I have not had a blintz in so long. I am so hungry after reading this post. Wish I had time to make these for lunch… maybe for dinner I will have to… :)

  10. anotherfoodieblogger May 2, 2016 at 1:41 PM - Reply

    What a timeless recipe! They look fabulous, and you did a great job of photographing a hard subject. :)

    • chef mimi May 2, 2016 at 2:01 PM - Reply

      Oh gosh, it really was challenging photographing the blintzes! I’m not sure why!!

  11. Conor Bofin May 2, 2016 at 2:21 PM - Reply

    I have never made them. They look very elegant Mimi. I think the coulis helped with the photos. A nice bit of contrast and texture there.

    • chef mimi May 3, 2016 at 7:08 AM - Reply

      Thank you. They were challenging to photograph for some odd reason.

  12. cynthiawoodman May 2, 2016 at 5:16 PM - Reply

    Oh, how funny Mimi! We must be telepathic! we both posted blintzes! I love them! And your strawberry coulis sounds yummy!

  13. hotlyspiced May 2, 2016 at 11:28 PM - Reply

    I love your beautiful plates. And what a fantastic dessert – I would just love those flavours xx

    • chef mimi May 3, 2016 at 7:09 AM - Reply

      They are definitely sweet enough for dessert but not too sweet for breakfast! Thank you Charlie!

  14. chefceaser May 3, 2016 at 12:19 AM - Reply

    Reblogged this on Chef Ceaser.

  15. Gather and Graze May 3, 2016 at 1:50 AM - Reply

    These sound totally delicious Mimi and a great idea for a weekend breakfast or brunch! Looking forward to making these for the family sometime soon. :)

    • chef mimi May 3, 2016 at 7:10 AM - Reply

      I can’t imagine anyone not loving these, unless, perhaps, they don’t like the ricotta texture.

  16. Lisa @ cheergerm May 3, 2016 at 6:20 AM - Reply

    9.20 at night and now I am hungry! Happy 60th!

  17. swampyankeestyle May 3, 2016 at 6:54 AM - Reply

    These look amazing! I am going to ask my husband to make them for me for mothers day! He is a great cook and will love this too. Thanks for the recipe.

    • chef mimi May 3, 2016 at 7:12 AM - Reply

      Wait, your husband cooks?!!! How lovely!!!

  18. emmabarrett1508 May 4, 2016 at 2:10 AM - Reply

    Mmmm. Looks amazing Mimi. We are so excited here because Alice is one on the 7th. Ill be busy in the kitchen working on her cake for the next few days. xx

    • chef mimi May 4, 2016 at 6:54 AM - Reply

      That is exciting!!! Hopefully you’ll post photos?!!

  19. spiceinthecity May 4, 2016 at 12:33 PM - Reply

    These blintzes sound absolutely amazing and they must be such a wonderful treat for breakfast! Thanks for sharing!!

    • chef mimi May 4, 2016 at 12:37 PM - Reply

      Thank you so much! And they’re pretty, too!

  20. memarose3 May 4, 2016 at 3:22 PM - Reply

    Thanks for the wonderful post – and for reminding me that I haven’t made Blintzes in forever! Yum – might just need to whip up a few very soon.

    • chef mimi May 4, 2016 at 3:40 PM - Reply

      I forget about them occasionally, too! Don’t really know why!!

  21. Cocoa & Lavender May 6, 2016 at 8:27 AM - Reply

    How fun to dig back and find a gem like this! I need to go back and look at my old recipe files – I wonder what I will find! I know there isn’t a cheese blintz recipe, so I will bookmark yours. You are right – so much prettier than a breakfast casserole!

    • chef mimi May 6, 2016 at 4:34 PM - Reply

      I’m just not a casserole fan in any case. Too much of a snob about how food looks.

  22. Abbe Odenwalder May 6, 2016 at 12:17 PM - Reply

    There is nothing like a home made blintz! Beautiful and elegant and making my mouth water. I always fry mine, but the baking method sounds good, too. I do that with my blintz casserole!

    • chef mimi May 8, 2016 at 9:19 AM - Reply

      Blintzes fried in butter are a beautiful thing!

  23. Frank Fariello May 8, 2016 at 7:26 AM - Reply

    Wow, it’s been years since I’ve had a blintz… Brings back memories of growing up in NY

    • chef mimi May 8, 2016 at 9:20 AM - Reply

      I was just in NYC and I only saw bagels! I would have loved to have an authentic blintz!

  24. eliotthecat May 9, 2016 at 11:01 AM - Reply

    Perfect recipe. i would have happily been an overnight guest for these the next morning. I did something similar when I was growing up—i ripped out clippings from mags and would organize them into files. I wonder what happened to that organized filing young girl?!? :) Happy belated birthday!

    • chef mimi May 18, 2016 at 10:30 AM - Reply

      Hahahaha! Thank you. I’m sadly an over organizer. Still.

  25. dianeskitchentable May 10, 2016 at 5:05 PM - Reply

    My goodness, I haven’t made blintzes in ages but this has definitely given me a craving again. Love you filling & those ingredients you mark as “optional”… well, I’m thinking are required for me.
    Happy birthday! I hope it was a great one. I’ve got one bearing down on me this month.

    • chef mimi May 11, 2016 at 8:13 AM - Reply

      Well happy future birthday!!! They are fun, especially when you’re treated as we deserve to be treated!

  26. flippenblog May 16, 2016 at 9:22 AM - Reply

    I have the same recipe cards which I started 30 years ago with food marks all over them from use🤓 still have them and still use them!

    • chef mimi May 18, 2016 at 10:29 AM - Reply

      Isn’t that funny?!!! Great minds I guess…

  27. TheSaltedPistachio May 21, 2016 at 11:20 AM - Reply

    Gotta try this! YUM!!

  28. Kimmiz Kreations May 26, 2016 at 6:42 AM - Reply

    I’ve never had Cheese Blintzes before. I just may have to try these sometime soon!

    • chef mimi May 26, 2016 at 7:02 AM - Reply

      Oh, they’re such a treat. Especially if you love the texture of ricotta.

  29. brie.it.on November 12, 2016 at 1:25 PM - Reply

    This sounds awesome! I just posted a blintz recipe of my own with a blueberry lemon compote. I completely agree with your saying that the sauce and filling shouldn’t both be sweet. I do the inverse of yours, though. I like a sweet filling and a topping that cuts through the sweetness. So my compote is tangier than it is sweet, and it is delicious when it all comes together! I’ll have to try your version, though. Sounds delicious!

    • chef mimi November 12, 2016 at 1:36 PM - Reply

      The possibilities are endless, which is why I love making them!

      • brie.it.on November 12, 2016 at 1:44 PM

        Exactly! One of the reasons I love cooking so much. There are so many different ways to make pretty much anything. I love experimenting in the kitchen!

      • chef mimi November 13, 2016 at 7:39 AM

        Me, too! I rarely make the same thing, which sometimes pisses off my family, but if I do, I invariably make a new variation. Why not?!!

      • brie.it.on November 14, 2016 at 10:04 AM

        I wholeheartedly agree!

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