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Blini. (In Russian: блины.) Crepes, basically. They’re delicious, and easy to make.1
Contents
Tools
- Medium mixing bowl
- Small mixing bowl or large liquid measuring cup
- Small glass ingredient bowl
- Measuring cups
- Wire whisk
- Silicone spatula
- Ladle
- Large, flat, shallow griddle or pan
- Pancake flipper spatula
- Paper towels
- Aluminum foil
- Pastry brush
(See my list of recommended kitchen tools for details on all of these, including the reasons for my recommendations.)
Ingredients
Wet
- Whole milk, 1 cup
- Boiling water, 1 cup
- Cooking oil, 1⁄4 (plus more for the griddle)
(I use corn oil; vegetable oil is probably also good; don’t use olive oil or anything else that has a strong flavor) - Large eggs, 2
- Vanilla extract, 1⁄2 tsp
(Always use pure, not imitation, vanilla extract)
Dry
- Unbleached all-purpose flour, 11⁄3 cup
- Granulated white sugar, 3 tbsp
- Salt, 1⁄4 tsp
Other
- Butter, about 1⁄2 stick
(a.k.a. 2 oz. / 4 tbsp; anyhow, the exact amount isn’t critical, as you’ll just be brushing the blini with it as they come out)
Instructions
Preparation, part I
- Measure out the wet and dry ingredients.
- Start some water boiling (more than a cup, since some will boil away).
- Melt the 1⁄2 stick butter; when it’s melted, pour it out into the small glass ingredient bowl.
Pre-mix ingredients
- In the medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: the 11⁄3 cup flour, the 3 tbsp sugar, and the 1⁄4 tsp salt.
- In the small bowl, mix the wet ingredients:
- Lightly whisk the 2 large eggs.
- Whisk in the 1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
- Whisk in the 1 cup whole milk.
- Whisk in the 1 cup boiling water.
- Whisk in the 1⁄4 cup cooking oil.
- Let the dry and wet ingredients stand, separately, while you do the next part.
Preparation, part II
- Set griddle on burner, on medium heat, to heat up. With a paper towel (being careful not to burn yourself), apply a coat of cooking oil to the pan.
(You don’t want oil to pool in the pan; you just want the surface to be slick with a thin layer of oil.) - Lay a sheet on aluminum foil on the counter, or on a cutting board. Coat one side of the foil with a teaspoonful of melted butter.
- Combine the wet & dry ingredients:
- Slowly, a few tablespoons at a time, add the wet mixture to the dry mixture; thoroughly whisk after each addition
(If you add everything at once, there will be lumps) - Keep adding and whisking in, making sure the wet ingredients are integrated thoroughly, and there are no lumps
- Slowly, a few tablespoons at a time, add the wet mixture to the dry mixture; thoroughly whisk after each addition
Making the blini
- Once the griddle has heated up, pour an almost-full ladle’s worth of batter onto the griddle; tilt the griddle this way and that as you pour, so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
1 But remember the Russian proverb: “первый блин комом” (“the first blin comes out crumpled”). ⇑
