Cheese Blintzes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between crepes and blintzes? ›

Blintzes vs Crepes

The main difference is crepes are only cooked once, and be be served plain, without filings. Blintzes, are always served filled, usually with a cheese mixture, and are cooked twice; once when made, and again after they are filled and pan fried.

If you want to serve something special to break the fast on Yom Kippur, consider blintzes. These are very thin pancakes folded around a cheese filling and topped with butter, jam, berries or sour cream.

Serve the blintz: Heat a pat of butter over medium heat in a skillet. Fry blintz until browned on both sides. Transfer to a place and serve with sour cream or a fruit sauce or jam or your choice.

The Origin of the Blintz

The blintz originated from Eastern Europe from a Jewish community called Ashkenazi. The Slavic translation is “pancake” since it resembles a pancake. Traditional fillings include sweetened cheese with raisins.

According to the traditional recipe of crepes, buckwheat flour, which is healthy and gluten-free, is used to make them. Because they are thin, they have fewer calories, fat, and sugar. If you are looking for protein-rich food, fill them with Greek yogurt or nut butter.

» Because the Torah allows eating only animals that both chew their cud and have cloven hooves, pork is prohibited. So are shellfish, lobsters, oysters, shrimp and clams, because the Old Testament says to eat only fish with fins and scales. Another rule prohibits mixing dairy with meat or poultry.

In Jewish tradition, the prohibition on mixing dairy and meat products has been interpreted in several different ways. Some see it as an implementation of the same principle of separating animals authorised for consumption from those that are forbidden.

It is forbidden to eat meat and milk together since things of different nature should not be combined. For one is of the mother [the nourishing milk] and the other is of the son [the meat that was nourished], and it is not fitting that they should be combined in one dish.

Ricotta or fromage blanc can also be substituted. Both the crêpes and the filled blintzes can be made ahead of time; just cover and chill overnight or freeze for up to one month.

What is another name for blintzes? ›

Both crepes and blintzes are a thin cooked pancake made from wheat flour and prepared either sweet or savory. They can be rolled or folded and filled with all sorts of ingredients -- meats (when using non-dairy milk in the batter) or cheese and vegetables to chocolate and fruits.

The word blintz in English comes from the Yiddish word בלינצע or blintse, coming from a Slavic word блинец [blin-yets] meaning blin, or pancake. Like the knishes, blintzes represent foods that are now considered typically Jewish, and exemplify the changes in foods that Jews adopted from their Christian neighbors.

Both the knish and the blintz are considered dairy products and would be found at a Jewish Dairy Restaurant. They're basically the same thing – a pastry of some sort made to wrap a dairy filling of potato, cheese, fruit, grain or vegetable. The knish is considered a dumpling, while the blintz is a rolled, thin pancake.

Here's the scoop: A blintz is a cheese-filled crepe-like pancake pan-fried in butter and served with jam and sour cream. The word blintz is derived from the yiddish word "blintze" which is derived from the Russian word "blinyet", which means little pancake.

Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: sweet crêpes (crêpes sucrées) or savoury galettes (crêpes salées).

Unlike pancakes, crêpes are much thinner because they aren't made with baking powder, as are pancakes. Since they are thinner, they tend to be a tad crispier as well. This makes the crêpe an excellent vehicle for practically any filling or topping you like, sweet or savory.