Cherries: Door County Cherry Blintzes

Photo by Douglas Detert

Real Door County cherries are a mix of sweet and sour and add a bit of bite to the sweet and creamy flavors of the traditional blintz. If you want to get extremely Wisconsin with the whole operation, substitute shredded cheese curds for the farmer cheese, or get good farmer cheese from Hook's.

Cherry blintzes take a little bit of time and work to assemble, though the cherry topping could be substituted with warmed-up cherry preserves or pre-made cherry pie filling to save some time. My favorite cherry preserves are from Slack's and can be purchased here. For recipe, click on blog title or "read more"

Photo by Douglas Detert

Crepes:
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

Blintz filling:

1 15 oz container whole or part-skim ricotta cheese

2 1/2 cups farmer cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tsp lemon zest

Cherry topping:

2 cups Door County (sour/pie) cherries with juice

3/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch

1/4 tsp almond extract

Sour cream

2 tablespoons butter

To make the crepes, blend all ingredients for 30 seconds in a blender then scrape sides. Blend 30 seconds more. Alternately, whisk for at least 2 minutes until there are no lumps. Let stand at least one hour before using. If making crepes ahead of time, the batter will keep in the refrigerator for 2 days. 

Heat a crepe pan or small nonstick skillet over medium heat and add a small (1/2 tsp) amount of butter. When the butter sizzles, add a few tablespoons of the crepe batter and coat the bottom of the pan. When the edges of the crepe begin to dry, flip the crepe and finish cooking the other side. The liquid should be cooked off but the crepes shouldn't be brown. Continue cooking all the crepes and stack them in between waxed paper as each comes off the pan.

Combine all blintz filling ingredients. Set aside in a bowl. This step can also be done ahead of time (cover and refrigerate).

Add all cherry topping ingredients to a small saucepan and turn the heat to medium.  (Don't heat before adding the arrowroot or cornstarch or the starch will lump.) Cook for about 10 minutes until the sauce is thick, stirring occasionally. Add more sugar to taste. If the sauce is still runny, add another tablespoon of arrowroot/cornstarch to a tablespoon of cold water and blend, then add to the hot filling mixture and stir. When the sauce is done, remove from the heat.

Fill the center of the crepes with a few spoonfuls of the blintz filling. Fold in the sides and roll. Heat a flat pan or skillet with a bit of butter and fry the blintzes over medium heat until brown, about a minute. Flip and cook the other side.

Serve individually with the cherry topping and sour cream.