Sadly, I have misplaced my journal where I detailed the tips from my blini-making clinic in the orphanage kitchen. I remember the technique pretty well, including the all-important wrist-flick when pouring the batter. This recipe comes pretty close, and it seems to have gained a bit of a following around here.
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
3 T sugar
1 1/2 c white flour
4 c milk, lukewarm
Mix eggs, salt, sugar, flour, and 2/3 c of milk until it is smooth. Add the rest of the milk, a little at a time, until it is about as thick as cream. (You can add more milk if you need to.) You can let the batter stand awhile, if you want. Just put it in the fridge for later. Or, make the blini right away!
I usually get 2 skillets going at once, about 8 inches around. In Russia they have these lovely blini pans with really short sides, which makes it easy to flip--I might pick one of those up next time! Use a pastry brush to lightly cover the HOT pans with oil every few blini or so. Use a ladle to pour less than 1/4 c of batter into the pan. Work quickly, picking up the pan to swirl the batter so that it covers the bottom of the pan evenly. You might need to use a rubber/wooden spatula to loosen up the sides of each blin. When you see the sides begin to brown and the middle is set (2-3 minutes max, depending on your pan and how thick you've poured the batter), carefully pick up the blin and flip it over. It usually takes less than a minute on the second side. Then set it aside to cool, and fold and stack them for later.
We usually eat these with jam or with sweetened condensed milk (Ben's favorite), but you can put just about anything in there.
The texture is different from crepes--I tried using my crepe maker for this and it was a failure. Stick with the old-school method on these! Like borscht, there are a million recipes for blini out there. We hope you like this one.
Enjoy! Happy Easter!
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