Eat! Eat! You’re nothing but skin and bone!

Ah Blintzes. How do I love thee? You know, I’m willing to bet Elizabeth Barrett Browning never tasted a decent blintz in her life. But had she, I expect she would have described the experience along poetic lines.

Blintzes elicit strong emotions. And are they ever simple things to make. Yes, perhaps they take a bit more time than typical pancakes, but they freeze well. Which means you can tuck a few away for the kind of cold winter’s morning that simply cries out for apple sauce and sour cream. You know the kind I mean. So let’s get started. Crack your eggs in a medium bowl.

Give then a quick beating with a fork, then add the milk. Set the mixture aside.

Stir together your flour and salt (and sugar if you like a sweeter blintz) in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle (beater).

Add the egg and milk mixture all at once with the machine running and beat on medium-low until the batter is smooth and homogenous.

Add the melted butter and beat for another 20 seconds or so on medium-low. Now cover the batter and put it into the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight. Why the rest? To let the bubbles rise out of the batter. Why is that important? All I can say is: remember reader Tori’s question.

When you’re ready to make your blintzes, heat a 6″ or 8″ nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat (I’m using a 6″ because I generally like a smaller blintz). Add about a teaspoon of butter to the pan and swirl it around. You want the heat high enough so that the butter foams a bit but doesn’t brown.

Add a few tablespoons of batter…

…and swirl it around gently to coat the pan. (I’m swirling gently…you just can’t see it because it’s in extreme slow-mo).

Cook the blintz about 45 seconds, until you can’t see any more raw batter on the top of the pancake. At that point give the pan a jostle until the blintz comes loose from the bottom (the first one might stick, but the process will get easier as the pan warms and gets lubricated).

Then off-load the finished blintz onto your stack. Don’t worry, they’re too eggy to stick together.

Ideally, they’ll have barely browned on the bottom, if at all. The blintzes can be refrigerated at this point for several days or frozen for several months. I’m going to eat mine.

So I’m going to set a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and add a couple of tablespoons of butter to the pan. While that’s melting, I’m going to start filling my blintzes. For a small blintz, a tablespoon or so of filling is plenty. You don’t want to overfill your blintzes, I promise you. An over-stuffed blintz is an affront to both God and man, and comes unraveled in the frying pan.

To shape, roll the blintz up a bit.

Fold in one side…

…then the other…

…and keep rolling until you’re done. Finished!

Now all there is to do is brown these suckers in butter and put them on a plate.

Garnish with anything and everything. Eat!