Thin layered blini with melted butter.. a true Royal Russian breakfast! Best eaten with sour cream, jams and honey.
This is a contemporary bliny recipe, the way we made them when I lived it Russia. We would add just a pinch of baking soda to make them more porous though. The batter should be almost liquid so its easier to pour it on the pan. If it goes too thick, just add more milk/water. The bliny should be thin, as thin as you can make them. We used to make huge piles of bliny, just buttering and stacking them (often we used 2 frying pans at a time to speed the process - just got to find your rythm :D). Then you pick them one by one, put the jem on (I use freshly blended cranberries + sugar), fold them (we dont roll them like creppes, rather just fold in half, then quarter, then 8th) and eat them while they are hot, with hot black tea with lemon. Thats the way. ps. There are many recepies for Bliny. Buckweet, oatmeal, with or without yeast - you name it, you can make bliny with them, but the recepies would differ greatly for these varieties. This one better used as it is.
Read MoreThe batter was way too thin. I ended up having to call my mom to find out what I was doing wrong and I was told to cut the milk in half with water and add more flour, and to not worry so much about the first couple of blinis as they will normally ball up and get ruined. That helped me.
Read MoreThis is a contemporary bliny recipe, the way we made them when I lived it Russia. We would add just a pinch of baking soda to make them more porous though. The batter should be almost liquid so its easier to pour it on the pan. If it goes too thick, just add more milk/water. The bliny should be thin, as thin as you can make them. We used to make huge piles of bliny, just buttering and stacking them (often we used 2 frying pans at a time to speed the process - just got to find your rythm :D). Then you pick them one by one, put the jem on (I use freshly blended cranberries + sugar), fold them (we dont roll them like creppes, rather just fold in half, then quarter, then 8th) and eat them while they are hot, with hot black tea with lemon. Thats the way. ps. There are many recepies for Bliny. Buckweet, oatmeal, with or without yeast - you name it, you can make bliny with them, but the recepies would differ greatly for these varieties. This one better used as it is.
Maybe why some of you had problems with this recipe is because you were trying to make something out of it, that it is not. Blini are not made with this buckwheat, nor can they be "too thin". Blini are -not- crepes or pancakes, as so many people want to think they are if they've never tried them. This is a good recipe, don't try to change it!
If there's two things I can't stand it's pompous foodies who say that a dish can only be made one way and with certain ingredients, and people who drastically change a recipe and then say it didn't turn out well. Unfortunately there's a ton of those kinds of reviews on this site and it's a shame that anyone would be turned off by great recipes reviewed in such ways. That said, this batter should be thin. Freakishly thin. So much that you worry it's not a batter at all. But trust in the ingredients and it will turn out correctly. Mine almost never come out round, so don't worry if yours don't either. Keep the heat fairly low, I use the click just to the left of Medium on my stove. But also keep in mind that because of the amount of liquid, these are really hard to burn. Which is good because they need the cooking time in order to stay together. If you feel the need to add some yeast for the sake of staunch traditionalism, go for it. I didn't notice anything to write home about. This is a good recipe for anyone who doesn't want to waste a whole package of yeast just for some pancakes. If you feel it needs to be made with buckwheat (though there's nothing in the overall definition of the blini/blintz family that says it has to be made that way), well there is a recipe on here for the buckwheat version. Lastly, I've also made this recipe with water instead of milk and it worked really well, just decrease the amount of liquid by about a half-cup for the full recipe.
They're good when made good and appreciated for their "thinness" ;) Yes, with sour cream, jam, and honey is a nice touch. Another thing you can do to them is take cream cheese (whole package), sour cream (about half of a normal size), maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, and cottage cheese. Mix well. Add a spoon or 2 to each of your "blini", roll each one up, place in a glass pan (all) and bake for about 20-30 minutes at 325*. Check to see if they're done; if cottage cheese is gone, then they're done!! Good luck and priyatnovo appetita (bon appetite)!!!!!
This recipe was OK, but a little tricky. I ruined a few blini before figuring out that I had to make sure my pan wasn't too hot when I poured in the batter. If it was, the bottom layer cooked instantly, and the top part was still liquid- impossible to flip. Otherwise, it was good, but not the best blini I ever had.
The batter was way too thin. I ended up having to call my mom to find out what I was doing wrong and I was told to cut the milk in half with water and add more flour, and to not worry so much about the first couple of blinis as they will normally ball up and get ruined. That helped me.
The batter was thin. I mean, THIN thin. Too thin, so that I couldn't spread it into a nice round shape in my crepe pan they way I do with crepes. I guess I expected crepe batter consistency. Anyway, the first was a disaster, so I added some flour to thicken it up and that worked well. Then they were fine, though they were really more like crepes than blini, as authentic blini are made with buckwheat flour. We tried these because buckwheat is so strongly flavored, but next time I'll just make plain ol' crepes.
Blinis should be with a pinch of yeast and buckwheat .. and then 2 eggs with 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 2 1/2 cups milk ? ? Sorry but that is more a sauce.
I'm Russian and I make Blini for years. The recipe I use is a little bit different but works like a charm: 1 1/2 cups of milk, 2 eggs, 3 TBSP oil, 1 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt. Mix well together, it is important that you don't have any lamps! and rest is the same... the batter should be very thin! I feel these with different thing, not always sweet, this is why I do not add sugar to the batter. (The original actually goes with caviar :)) Good luck, and it takes time to make the perfect blini, so do not get discouraged! it worth it! Mine disappear in minutes :)
This recipe is great, however, like some people noted you can add some pinch of baking soda, so it is more porous, and stick less to the pan. For those who could not work it out the first time, it is no big deal. Actually, the first blin is always unsuccessful. You gotta get used to making them and come up with a perfect way. I started making them since I was 14 for my little brother, so I can say I have my way:) By the way, if anyone knows how to make Russian Tvorozhniki, cheese cakes kind of, please would you mind sharing a recipe? Thank you
I am a very experienced cook/baker. I have made every kind of pancake under the sun as well...this recipe, I have to say, failed terribly. I tried this recipe on two seperate occations. Tried with different temperatures, different pans, different spatulas, different oils/butter/spray and eventually, I just added more flour and salvaged my batter and made delicious Norweigen pancakes filled with sour cream and raspberry jelly. I really wish they would have worked....I will attempt Blini again..but certainly NOT with this recipe.
I just whipped up a batch of these - easy, flavorful and turned out really really well - a hit with my guests! so easy the first time I made them they were just right - so tasty!
Just like my grandma used to make. I let them cool and then rolled up strawberry yogurt in the middle and topped with fresh strawberries, bananas and blueberries. Good stuff.
Batter was way too thin! I added an extra 1/2 cup flour and 2 tbsp. vegetable oil to the mix and it was better...at least they cooked and weren't a sloppy milky mess!
Now for all those people who elected to try something new, but do not know- that these should be cooked in a cast iron skillet, so as to have even heat. this is what alot of people do not know.
It was a good start. I added 1 cup of flour with 2 cups of milk instead and the consistency was fine. maybe you should edit that on the recipe?? otherwise every other ingredient mixed well.
This was just ok tasting but not what I was looking for. All of the blini I've had were yeast risen (some had buckwheat some not). These didn't have the flavor- they were more like watery crepes.
My first two blinis balled up, I think because I had too much oil in the pan. After that they were wonderful! We had them with sour cream and caviar for Christmas Eve and the flavour was just perfect.
I liked this. I did however make them too thick. Next time I make it I'll be more careful of the amount I pour.
batter was slightly too thin, so i added more flour and then a little more sugar. also took someone else's advice and added a pinch of baking soda and wow...this was really tasty!! thanks!!!
Excellent recipe. Thin blinis came out heavenly. Very easy to make. Patience required in the cooking process.
These arent EXACTLY "blini"...I made them and they turned out completely thin and just strange-blini, in russian, arent thin!! :) Overall they were DELICIOUS which is good and yumm with sour cream ...wow .
I tried this twice, but it didn't work out either time. I used evaporated milk + water, then used just water (using less as suggested by a reviewer). Maybe that made it too thin. I added a little flour halfway through the first batch - that kept them in one piece, but they were 'eggy', and not at all crisp. The only way I got this to work was to throw them out and make crepes instead. I will suggest that for easier flipping (if anyone's been lucky enough to get that far), you should grease the pan with butter instead of oil, sliding a little under the blini just before its ready to be flipped. For the author's sake, I'll try this again when I have the milk it's calling for, but I really think the measurements on the ingredients need to be tweeked for this to work.
I had fun with this. I followed the recipe and caught on to it right away. I am half russian and half native american. My mother was adopted into a wight family, so I did not grow up with native cultures. Just recently I started studying the russian culture and cooking. I love Russian food and wish I tried it sooner. With Blini I served it with fried patatoes, left over ham and kielbasa sausage that was left over from Solianka. Thank you william!
What I got were oily, slimy, gelatinous blobs that tasted like bad omelets with a bit of flour. I had to completely change the recipe to make something resembling the blini I had before. I ended up using approximately 1 egg, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 c flour, 1 1/2 c milk, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp baking soda, and I used no butter in the pan while cooking them.
I liked this recipe the best out of all others I found...but I couldn't do it. The batter was too thin to flip I found a video on youtube that worked out better. I had to add a little over 1/4 of a cup of flour to work with it. I recommend watching pokergypsys video on youtube called gypsy blinis they came out better.
Well, once I added lots more flour and cut down on the milk, it took me another forty-five minutes to make. They did taste delicious, however :) I topped them with whipped cream and strawberries.
I tried this recipe. It was very good. I've been looking for a recipe that comes close to my grandparents recipe that was handed down the generations. But I can't come close to the ingredients that was used. My grandparents were from Belarus. The blini's that I grew up on were made with grated potato's, flour, eggs, and cooked in salt pork fat. More flour for thicker pancakes, salt, pepper for taste. They were extremely delicious. If it was baked in the oven a bit of baking powder was used to rise like a meatloaf. I'm confused to what the real name for this is. Does anyone know what I'm referring to? Please reply if you have any information. Thank you!
Works perfectly. I made mini-blinis to serve with caviar. Each blini came out at about 2" diameter. I used a turkey baster to put the batter into the skillet and it was easy and helped make the blinis round.
I like thin properly made Blini's but unless the liquid has a bit more flour, it will not pour in anything that would make the round ones in the picture. My friends in Russia always showed me how thick the batter should be and how to pour them. The first one never comes off the pan well, and that is to be expected. A well seasoned hot cast iron pan is what they used with oil and not cooking spray. It also lacks the tiny holes, but my friends always added a pinch of baking soda and a very small amount of warm water. Once flour was added though this recipe had good flavor, but was is still not quite the traditional Blini I was familiar with.
This is very close to the recipe I use for Maslenitsa (Butter Week - beginning of Lent) when I make Blini at least three times daily. Sour cream and caviar are my favourite toppings. In my recipe, I will also add a teaspooin of active yeast and allow the batter to sit for an hour before cooking. This makes them less likely to tear. Be aware that the most important step is the temperature of the pan. It is normal for the first two or three to be ruined until you get the pan at just the right temp. Lots of REAL butter is essential!
This recipe was a little more tricky than I had expected, but once I read some of the reviews and turned down the heat on my pan I was doing just fine. Wonderful recipe!
The batter is extremely thin and burned quickly. Very difficult to flip; I ended up with a messy disaster. My boyfriend is from St. Petersburg, and we have recently returned from a visit to his family in Belarus, where his mother prepared awesome blini. I'll be asking for her recipe. :( I'm very disappointed.
I had Blini for the first time in Irkutsk Russia, from that point on I was hooked. I asked Mama Rita ( lady who ran the B&B) for the recipe,which I lost along my travels. I must say that this is the closest thing to the recipe that she gave me. I used a little less milk and it came out great. Dont worry that it looks too liquidy. It will come together when you our it into the hot pan. When Its done I butter it and fold them in 1/4's
Perfect blini recipe! You can tell by how thin the batter is. I like mine with nutella, strawberries, and bananas.
Batter too thin, need to reduce the milk amount. Otherwise, looks like a traditional recipe
This recipe is very similar to the one my Russian mother-in-law always made. For hers it used yeast and the batter was made the night before then left to sit in the fridge overnight. The thing to be said from past experience is that these are meant to be as thin as possible and we always messed 1 or 2 up before getting that perfect temperature. We even used different sized pans. Also, don't expect round. We never poured ours to reach the side of the pan. They would be roundish, but not perfectly round.
The batter is way too thin. I had to add more flour - and it turned out really good (like my mother-in-law's)! I am keeping this recipe, but next time I will decrease salt as well.
As written this recipe is a fail. I've been to Russia and eaten a ton of blini's and I've made a fair amount of crepes so I understand cast iron pans and thin batter. This was NOT it. Batter is way too milky. I started as written and made and tasted a couple of times. Then I added double flour and made and tasted. Still not right. I added a bit more sugar. Better and now I'm off to add a pinch of baking soda as others have suggested. But next time I'm looking for a completely different recipe - or just making my awesome french crepes and calling them blinis :-)
These are great. My friend from Russia would melt Swiss cheese in them and serve them with sour cream. I would eat them every day if I could!
Sorry, but this didn't meet my expectations at all. Didn't turn out well, and I followed the recipe exactly. Tasted even worse than they looked
Much lighter than regular pancakes without all the bread-iness to it ... Definitely going to become a staple in our house with simmered fresh fruit and whip cream!
These tasted yummy, but weren't as thick as the ones that my husband's grandmother used to make. She passed away before I knew enough to ask her for her recipe. This one is a good, tweak-able recipe though. Hopefully it will help me recreate the ones I remember!
The recipe comes extremely runny with 2.5 cups of milk. We had to add flour for it to have any constancy. Other than that it was great.
I have always been doing it with my families recipe. But today i wanted to try something different. It turned out pretty good!
These were basically impossible to flip. they stuck to the pan, no matter what oil/butter we used. although, the clumps that turned out were delicious...
I made the pancakes, but used 3 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 2 tablespoons of white sugar, 1 full cup of all-purpose flour, I dropped the vegetable oil and added a pinch of baking soda.
Great Recipe! I would serve it with Creme Fraische instead of sour cream though.
brought me right back to my childhood! these taste exactly like my mom used to make. my favorite is with blackberry jam!!! thanks for the memories!!!
Made these for use with caviar and they were so much better than any packaged blinis we've had before. Did add a little extra flour and a pinch each of baking soda and baking powder.
The recipe comes extremely runny with 2.5 cups of milk. We had to add flour for it to have any constancy. Other than that it was great.
This would have been a five star recipe has the amount of milk been decreased to 1 cup. The first time I made it, I decreased the milk by half because it seemed outrageous to use 2.5 cups. Because it tasted so good, the second time I made it, I stayed true to the recipe. It didn't work. I made it again with 1 cup and it was perfect.
This is pretty identical to how we make blini...but in my family no one has ever had the patience to figure out what our recipe is because we just dump it in and adjust- several generations of it! This is supposed to be so thin that it's unspreadable. It's not supposed to be like anything you will know from American food- it's not even like crepes. Try to use gravity and your wrist to cover the bottom of the pan, and take it off the heat to slow down. When it loses its sheen near the center, you're close to being able to fold. We fill & fold in the pan and move onto the next one. Your first blini will ALWAYS be off...that one goes to the dog!
This was my first time with this recipe so it took a few before I got the quantity per blini and the pan temperature right. For filling I used cream cheese and strawberry jam. I also tried lemon juice and powdered sugar. Both were good.
