Nalesniki with Cheese and Raisins (Russian Crepes)
User Reviews
5
Nalesniki with Cheese and Raisins (Russian Crepes)
Description
This recipe for Nalesniki with Cheese and Raisins includes making a thin crepe batter using a blender to combine lukewarm water, milk, eggs, melted butter, flour, sugar, and salt into a smooth batter. The crepes are cooked individually in a buttered non-stick skillet, swirling the pan to evenly coat the surface with a thin layer of batter. Once golden and lightly set on one side, crepes are flipped briefly to finish cooking.
The filling blends room temperature cream cheese with cottage cheese, sugar, and plumped raisins, providing a creamy, slightly sweet contrast to the tender crepes. These crepes achieve a pliable yet delicate texture, ideal for rolling or folding around the filling.
Nalesniki can be served warm or at room temperature, often sprinkled with powdered sugar. They make a satisfying breakfast, dessert, or light meal with their balance of creamy filling and soft crepe exterior.
Ingredients
For the Crepes Batter:
- ½ cup water lukewarm
- 1 cup milk
- 4 egg large
- 4 Tbsp butter melted. Plus more to sauté, unsalted
- 1 cup all-purpose flour you can use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- Pinch salt
For the Filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature, package
- 16 oz cottage cheese small curd
- 1/3 cup sugar
- ¾ cup raisins
- powdered sugar optional, for serving
Instructions
How to Make the Crepes:
- Put all of the ingredients for the crepes (in the order that they are listed) in a blender and blend until well combined: 1/2 cup lukwarm water, 1 cup milk, 4 eggs, 4 tbsp melted butter (or olive oil), 1 cup flour.
- Melt a dot of butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat (2 skillets make the process go faster).
- As you are pouring into the skillet, swirl the batter to evenly coat the bottom. If you get any small gaps, you can fill them with more batter. Depending on the size of your skillet; add about 2-3 Tbsp of batter. I use a small ladle.
- Once the bottom is lightly golden (about a minute or less) flip the crepe using a sharp edged spatula to easily get under the crepe. Let the other side get lightly golden and plop the crepe out onto a cutting board.
- Repeat with remaining batter; you may not need to dot with butter after the first time if your skillet is a good one (and remember there is butter in the batter). Don’t stack hot crepes on top of each other. Once they are just warm or room temp, they can be stacked.
- Don’t panic, my first crepe never turns out nice so I wolf it down to conceal the evidence!
How to make cheese filling and complete nalesniki:
- In a colander, rinse the cottage cheese with cold water and drain well.
- Mash the cream cheese, cottage cheese and sugar with a potato masher until well combined and creamy. Cottage cheese will still be a little lumpy.
- Using a spatula, spread 2 generous Tbsp of cheese filling on each crepe.
- Sprinkle with about 15 raisins.
- Roll the crepe into a log and cut in half.
- Refrigerate crepes that aren’t being served. It keeps in the fridge for almost one week.
To Serve:
- Melt about 1 Tbsp of butter in a skillet and sauté the rolled cheese crepes on medium heat until golden brown on both sides. They don't take long to sauté. Be careful not to burn them.
- Dust with powered sugar (optional) and serve with sour cream or jam on the side.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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