Russian Crepes with Cheese, Raisins and powdered sugar (Nalesniki)

Ingredients

For the Batter:

½ cup lukewarm water
1 cup milk
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted. Plus more to sauté.
1 cup all-purpose flour (you can use ½ cup whole wheat flour and ½ cup all-purpose)
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of Salt

For the Filling:
8 oz package cream cheese, at room temperature
16 oz small curd cottage cheese
⅓ cup sugar
¾ cup raisins
Powdered sugar for serving (optional)

Instructions

How to Make the Crepes:

1. Put all of the ingredients for the crepes (in the order that they are listed) ½ cup water, 1 cup milk, 4 large eggs, 4 Tbsp butter or olive oil, and 1 cup flour in a blender and blend until well combined.
2. Melt a dot of butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat (2 skillets make the process go faster).
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

How to make cheese filling:

1. In a colander, rinse the cottage cheese with cold water and drain well.
2. 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.
3. Using a spatula, spread 2 generous tablespoons of cheese filling on each crepe.
4. Sprinkle with about 15 raisins.
5. Roll the crepe into a log and cut in half.
6. Refrigerate crepes that aren’t being served. It keeps in the fridge for almost one week.

To Serve:

1. Melt about 1 tablespoon 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.
2. Dust with powered sugar (optional) and serve with sour cream or jam on the side.

Big Thanks goes to NatashasKitchen for this yummy recipe!!!

Please feel free to ask any questions or comment.

Enjoy=)