Russian-fest: Vareniki and Bliny

Last Friday and Saturday, Jeff and I celebrated his one-year-back-from-the-mission anniversary. We had crockpot Beef Stroganoff for dinner (recipe to come) and some Vareniki (apple dumplings, emphasis on the second syllable) for dessert Friday.


With an apple cinnamon filling, they were good at first, but a little bland--they were much better after we decided to Americanize them by rolling them in cinnamon sugar.

Apple Vareniki:

Ingredients:
Filling:

2 ea Apples, peeled 1 ts Cinnamon 1 ts Lemon juice, fresh 2 tb Butter Dough: 4 c Flour 1/2 c Milk, warm 1 Egg 1 Egg Yolk 2 tb Sour cream 1/2 ts Salt 1 ts Butter

Directions:
Mix dough ingredients and knead into a soft & pliable dough. Cover & let sit for 10 minutes in a warm bowl. Knead for 15-20 minutes at most. Divide the dough in 1/2. Roll thin. Cut into
2-inch squares or use the rim of a large round glass. Take one piece & stretch slightly, place a small spoonfull of filling in the center, fold dough over & very carefully seal the edges. Wetting the edge very slightly insures a good seal. In a pot of salted boiling water, cook Vareniki until they float, then gently remove from pot with a slotted spoon.


Saturday's dessert, made by Chef Jeff (whoa, that's way too fun to say) was Blini (thick crepes spread with jam or, if you want to do it Russian style, sweetened condensed milk). I have to include the description from russianfoods.com, though. It's pretty priceless:
"Bliny is a Russian traditional dish. They are baked in a great quantity at Shrove (carnival) - last week before Lent. Bliny making was a real sacred mystery. People told fortunes on the dough, kept their recipes of Bliny in secret. The first Bliny were put on the window-sills for poor people and pilgrims. The foreigners were very surprised at how many Bliny Russians could eat. At Shrove mother-in-law must bake a lot Bliny for her son-in-law. The most popular Bliny were made from buckwheat flour. Good Bliny must be very very thin. The thinner Bliny are the perfect your skill is."



Bliny:

Ingredients:

1 c flour 3 c milk 1/2 ts soda 2 tb vegetable oil salt and sugar to taste (Jeff and I make dessert bliny, so we add a few tbs of sugar) 2-3 eggs

Directions:
Mix eggs with 3 cups of milk . Add salt and flour and mix thoroughly (so that there are no flour lumps in it). Heat a frying pan and grease with vegetable oil. Pour a thin layer of batter evenly. over the pan, like an omelet (remember, "the thinner Bliny are the perfect your skill is"). Add more flour if you are not successful with thin bliny. Cook until light brown, about 2 minutes on each side.
Spread with jam, syrup, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and sugar, or any other topping you please. Then roll up and enjoy.