Peachy Delicious Blintzes

Hello, everybody! Mary Jane here. I thought someone had done blintzes in the cafe before but when I looked, I didn't find them so... Here's a recipe that's pretty simple and always turns out!

I usually make this when I've overbought on cottage cheese and cream cheese. Some weeks my kids eat them both like they're going out of style. Some weeks... nope. Not touching it. Which is fine because I'll just turn them into something terribly unhealthy.

Our peaches are ready and we did some canning. Funny, I always look at the jars lined up and think, "This is going to last us until winter!" 

Ha. No.  

Here's the ingredient list for the filling. Nothing fancy!

4 oz cream cheese

3 Tbs powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups cottage cheese

1 egg (you see two because I doubled it)

1 lemon, zested

Blend in a food processor or a blender until creamy.

                                                                   

The crepes are pretty standard, too, but I did put a little more sugar in there because I don't enjoy bland crepes. It's the American in me. 

1 cup milk

1/4 cup cold water

2 eggs

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

2 TBs sugar

3 TBS melted butter

Whisk or blend until completely smooth. I like to put my crepe batter in the fridge for a few hours. It makes it fluffier and not as chewy. I don't know why. It's possible that it's just in my head, but I could swear it works.

I also like to put the filling in the freezer for a while. It keeps it from being too runny to work with.

                                                

Waxing or waning?

                                                     

Make them into little burritos. Don't overcook the crepes like I did on that one there...

Bake at 400F for ten minutes so the eggs in the cheese filling can cook. They should puff a little and be browned. Some people fry them before baking, but I've never felt like I need to do that. Maybe it tastes better? Anyway, this was a delicious dinner on a Friday night when nobody felt like eating "real" food. 

Be sure to stop by my author pages of Virginia Carmichael and Mary Jane Hathaway for all my book news!

Special Occasion Crepes!

I'm going against the January grain of healthy sharing because we have a tradition that we love. For family celebrations we make  homemade crepes with assorted fillings.

This is our crazy indulgence!

I love crepes. I first had a crepe at Perkins Family Restaurants a long time ago... and then they took them off the menu.

No more crepes for Ruthy!!!

But when my oldest two were starting college I saw a sale for this Betty Crocker cookbook:

I bought three.... One for each of them and one for me, and I have loved this book ever since! So many good recipes inside! Old favorites (Deluxe sugar cookies/Mary's sugar cookies in the old book and simply "Sugar Cookies" in this one)... Snickerdoodles... Soft molasses cookies....(which make great holiday Whoopie Pies, but we'll talk about that another day!)

And inside there was a recipe for crepes!!! Oh, hallelujah!  Recipe for crepes here!!!!

The fillings can be store-bought but I like to make my own. Basic fruit fillings for crepes can be done with fresh fruit but I like to use a "thinned" pie filling style.....


BASIC FRUIT FILLING RECIPE FOR CREPE FILLING

4 cups fruit (frozen berries, chopped apples, chopped peaches, etc.)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon butter

Heat fruit  and water in covered saucepan on stove until hot and tender. (apples take a few minutes....)
Mix sugar and flour together. For apples add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg to flour/sugar mixture.

Mix dry ingredients and butter into hot fruit, reduce heat and stir until smooth.... thin with hot water if desired.  (I thinned the  above pic for the crepes... I wanted the apple mix dry-ish for strudel, but then I thinned it out with hot water to make it more syrupy for the crepes)

Fill crepes as you make them.

Top with additional fruit and/or whipped cream.

This is a fancy, delightful way to start our days of celebration! We don't indulge in these on other days because then they wouldn't be as special. And note the fancy paper plate, LOL! We knew we'd have plenty of dishes from dinner.

Thank you, Perkins restaurants and Betty Crocker for the inspiration. You've blessed a family for decades!

And here are the out-of-town guys, in town for the holidays (but not at the same time!)

Two generations of RISK! players... and the board did not get flipped, which might be a record in our house!

And here is finance boy from NYC.... Beth found old-school hand-held electronic games and brought them over.... Yes, this is what video games used to look like, LOL!

We had a wonderful holiday season.... but I'm ready to get back to normal schedules for a while. How about you???

Multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne is living her dream of writing wonderful stories that make folks smile... sigh... and sometimes cry. She loves to chat with readers and you can find her here at the cafe every Thursday.... or any day on facebook! Stop by her website at ruthloganherne.com and feel free to e-mail her at loganherne@gmail.com

She'd love to hear from you!