Ricotta Blini With Honey, Orange, And Sea Salt

There's something to be said for making a recipe of something you've never had before. Since I've not tasted a blini (and, in fact, don't even know for sure what one is), the ones I made today were the best ever!

I love ricotta cheese so, even if these had miserably and clearly failed, I'd probably still think they were good. In fact, I could probably forego all the cooking, just eat ricotta straight out of its container, and be a happy camper. Cooked up in a fancy fat pancake, the cheese and everything else in this recipe tasted rich and light at the same time, if that's possible.

Since I've never tried blini-ing before, I prepped all my ingredients first - and then wondered why I don't do this more often when cooking. I've got these cute little graduated prep bowls that are perfect for this task, and when all the ingredients are lined up in proper order, it's easy to feel more competent and chef-like. How can anyone fail to execute a recipe successfully, when those colorful little bowls are filled with the proper ingredients and standing by, ready to be put to use????

As long as we're discussing the fun parts of this recipe, I have to say that shimmying those wet little globs of dough and then forming them in my hands felt like working with a very loose Play-Dough. When my granddaughters were here for Christmas, I spent some happy minutes rolling out homemade purple Play-Dough with them, marveling at how long they were entertained by such a simple activity. Now it was my turn to take an amorphous blob of dough and turn it into something hopefully a bit more edible than the creations those little girls were cranking out! Making the blinis felt like having a cooking session and play therapy combined!

I love it when something small can transform a recipe in a big way. That's how I felt about the orange zest in these blinis. One half of an orange's worth of finely grated peel gave out an unmistakable burst of sunny orange taste that helped contrast the delicateness of the citrus against the denser feeling of the ricotta.

Some of my today's batch have been frozen for future mornings. I have no idea if they'll taste good reheated but, topped with enough powdered sugar and honey drizzle, I'm pretty sure I'll find them a quick and delightful breakfast offering.

Ricotta Blini With Honey, Orange, and Sea Salt
from Smitten Kitchen Every Day

3/4 cup all purpose flour, plus 1/3 cup for rolling, and more for sprinkling the tray
1 cup whole milk ricotta
2 large eggs
1 T granulated sugar
Finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
1 T white vinegar
1/2 t baking soda
1/3 cup dried currants (optional) (Somewhere in her write-up on this recipe, Deb talks about her mother-in-law using raisins for her blinis. I went with the raisins, since I had them on hand.)
Neutral oil, for frying
Powdered sugar, to finish
Honey, gently warmed
Flaked sea salt, to finish

Directions:
Sprinkle a large tray lightly with flour. In a large bow, whisk together the ricotta, eggs, sugar, zest and vinegar. In a small bowl, combine the 3/4 cup flour, the baking soda, and the salt. Stir into the wet mixture until thoroughly combined, then mix in the currants, if desired.

Place the remaining 1/3 cup flour in a medium sized wide-ish bowl. Drop large spoonfuls (about 2 T each) of the batter into the flour and shimmy the bowl around to get the dough mostly coated in flour.
Pick up a glob of dough gently with floured hands, and toss it back and forth between your palms to form it loosely into a ball. The dough will be very very soft.
Place the ball on a floured baking tray, then repeat with the remaining batter.
Heat a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add 3 T oil. Don’t skimp - most will drain off or stay in the pan.
Shaking off the excess flour, drop 3 - 4 balls of pancake batter into the heated oil a couple inches apart, pressing each down to form a slightly flattened disc.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until golden underneath, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
Flip each pancake, and cook until golden brown on the second side.
Transfer to paper towels and drain.
Repeat with the remaining balls of pancake batter, adding more oil if needed. 
Transfer the cooked pancakes to a serving plate, and dust with powdered sugar. Drizzle honey over the pancakes. Sprinkle with a few flakes of the sea salt. The pancakes are definitely most magical right after they’re cooked, when they are still soft in the center. They will flatten somewhat but still taste delicious after they have rested for a while.