What's Cooking--Shavuot "Cheater" Cheese Blintzes

One of my big goals for this year is to become a better (or, at least, more experienced) cook, and begin assembling a personal cookbook of inexpensive and easy-to-prepare recipes which my picky-eater PCE might actually be willing to eat. As I find and test new and worthy recipes, I'll be sharing some of my favorites here.

This inaugural recipe is one I used while still in college and intend to use in the future as a Shavuot chag, or holiday, recipe. Shavuot, the festival commemorating the giving of the Torah, is an odd chag in that it doesn't have much established ritual associated with it beyond simply studying Torah. Just about the only universally accepted Shavuot-specific tradition is the consumption of sweetened cheese foods. As with many Jewish traditions, nobody quite agrees as to how or why this custom started, although the explanation I've always favored is that it is a reference to Song of Songs, which has traditionally been considered a rich metaphor for the love between God and the Jewish people. In particular, Solomon/God's description of the Shulamite/Jews in Song of Songs 4:11 ("honey and milk are under your tongue") is taken as a reference to the Jews' engagement in discussion and study of Torah. Thus, sweetened milk products are eaten on Shavuot as a symbolic representation of the receiving of the Torah (the "honey and milk" in the metaphor).

I absolutely love the super-traditional Shavuot meal: cheese blintzes (also known as cheese crepes). Unfortunately, I can't make it myself--thanks to my lingering coordinational difficulties, I can't even flip pancakes or omlettes, let alone crepes. So when I found this blintz recipe on Allrecipes.com which used flattened white bread in place of crepes, I simply had to try it. They aren't quite blintzes and they feel a little like cheating, but they are darn tasty, and I can make these without a problem! (I did make a few modifications to the original recipe; the version here is my adaptation.)

Shavuot "Cheater" Cheese Blintzes

1/2 loaf white bread
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese (low-fat works just fine), softened
1 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
As much cinnamon sugar as needed (if you don't have cinnamon sugar, mix your own: 2 tablespoons sugar to 1 teaspoon cinnamon will give you the proper ratio)
Confectioner's sugar, if desired

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cookie sheet by spraying it thoroughly with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Trim the crusts off the bread slices, and rolls them flat with a rolling pin. The flatter you can get them, the better.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, milk, and vanilla until smooth. (For a sweeter filling, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar.)

4. Spread cream cheese mixture onto each slice of flattened bread, then roll the bread up (roll the long way, with the cream cheese filling on the inside).

5. Using a pastry brush, brush each blintz with melted butter/margarine, then sprinkle the outside generously with cinnamon sugar.

6. Arrange blintzes on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the bread is firm to the touch.

7. Serve either plain, or with a topping. Serves four. (Traditionally, Shavuot blintzes are served with sour cream, but I'm not a fan of the taste. Canned fruit pie filling, on the other hand, makes a great topping. I'm partial to apple in particular.)

It's too late to make blintzes for Shavuot this year (it was last week), but these are good--and easy, and fast, and cheap--anytime!