Russian Pancakes\u00a0Straight from the Babushka\u2019s Cape<\/strong><\/p>\n

An enthusiastic cook, my 13-year-old grand daughter Ella received a cr\u00eape pan for Christmas. Our conversation about it inspired thoughts of cr\u00eapes, blintzes, blinis, Swedish pancakes and my mother\u2019s creative license recipe for Russian Pancakes.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Dobroe Utro (Good Morning)<\/p><\/div>\n

My mother<\/a> introduced them to my sisters and me with a dramatic fantasy version of their origin involving a brave babushka\u2019s escape across Siberia\u2019s icy tundra in raging blizzards, with her ancient recipe for Russian Pancakes hidden in the hem of her cape. By the time mother finished the story we were drooling for the treat and crying for the brave babushka.<\/p>\n

Under Mother\u2019s watchful eyes we followed the simple recipe and then took turns gently frying our pancakes. As we brought our dusted wonders to the table none of us expected their ethereal, almost custard texture or tart jelly and mild sour cream flavor. That morning Russian Pancakes became our family\u2019s favorite weekend breakfast.<\/p>\n

Mother\u2019s stories were never about verifiable details (across the icy tundra to save a pancake recipe? Hide a list of 8 ingredients into a cape because you might forget one?). Mother\u2019s stories were lessons, and to this day whenever I think about those pancakes I feel the magic of that inspired babushka.<\/p>\n

Hints<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
1. A single pancake in a non-stick, 7-8\u201d skillet is the easiest way to cook these. It helps to have 3 or 4 of those. If you don\u2019t, use a non-stick griddle and leave room between each pancake.<\/li>\n
2. The jelly or jam needs to be tart to hold up to the fresh cheese and sour cream. If what you have on hand isn\u2019t tart, squeeze a little lemon juice into it.<\/li>\n
3. A small, hand held strainer works well for sprinkling the powdered sugar.<\/li>\n
4. Preparing for a group: although the texture will be compromised, the cooked pancakes will hold for about 15 minutes in a 200\u00ba oven if they are on a buttered platter and covered lightly. Serve pancakes on preheated plates.<\/li>\n
5. Similar to Blinis, Blintzes and Crepes, this recipe works well as a savory first course. Savory versions will be the next posting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

   Ingredients<\/span><\/p>\n

   1 scant cup all purpose flour
   \n1 cup eggs (about 4)
   \n1 cup small curd cottage cheese
   \n1 \u00bc cup sour cream or cr\u00e8me fraiche
   \nMilk if necessary
   \n\u00bc # unsalted butter
   \n1 cup currant jelly or jam
   \n\u00bc cup powdered sugar<\/p>\n

   Procedure<\/span><\/p>\n

   \n
   1. Process flour, eggs, cottage cheese and 1 cup of sour cream or cr\u00e8me fraiche into a pourable batter. If it\u2019s too thick to pour easily, add a little milk. Don\u2019t over process or the gluten will stretch and make the pancakes tough.<\/li>\n
   2. Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add butter and heat until it bubbles but does not brown.<\/li>\n
      <\/a>

      Pour or ladle batter into pan<\/p><\/div>\n

   3. Pour or ladle batter making 5-6\u201d circles. Pancakes should not touch. Cook until slightly brown on edges.\n
      <\/a>

      Perfectly Browned<\/p><\/div>\n

      Turn and cook about a minute, just until batter sets. Transfer to heated and buttered platter or plate, turning pancakes over so browned side is down.<\/li>\n

   4. Drop 2 tsp. of jelly or jam onto each pancake, followed by 2 tsp. of sour cream. Fold two sides toward each other with one overlapping. Add \u00bd tsp. sour cream on top and a small bit of jam on the sour cream. Dust the pancake and surrounding plate with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Russian Pancakes\u00a0Straight from the Babushka\u2019s Cape An enthusiastic cook, my 13-year-old grand daughter Ella received a cr\u00eape pan for Christmas. Our conversation about it inspired thoughts of cr\u00eapes, blintzes, blinis, Swedish pancakes and my mother\u2019s creative license recipe for Russian … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[149,435,17,15,35,26,29,152],"class_list":["post-6458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-by-heidi-rabel","tag-breakfast","tag-cook-and-eat","tag-family","tag-fresh-food","tag-heidis-hints","tag-home-cooking","tag-recipes","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6458"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9875,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6458\/revisions\/9875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshbynorthwest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}