Cocktail Blini (For Caviar and More!)

Homemade blini are incomparably delicious and tender (much more so than store-bought), and they’re so easy to make. These quick but luxurious cocktail blini are the perfect vehicle for smoked salmon, caviar, or creme fraiche, among other things. My absolute favorite way to eat one of my favorite foods… caviar!

What Makes This Recipe So Good

• What are blini? They’re traditional Russian pancakes! This blini recipe is inspired by the blini my parents had on a trip to Russia, though some consider these to be “French blini” rather than traditional Russian blini. From Wikipedia: “In the West, the term blini traditionally refers to small (2-4 inches in diameter) savory pancakes made with leavened batter. In modern Russian, the term most often refers to pan-sized leavened thin pancakes, although smaller leavened pancakes are also called blini and were much more common historically.” If you’re looking for crepe-style blini, try this recipe from Vikalinka.
• They’re a little sweet and a little savory, which means you can pair them with just about ANYTHING and they’ll taste incredible. Hands down my favorite toppings are smoked salmon, creme fraiche, and caviar. A creamy dill sauce would be delicious with a salmon-topped blin, too. You could also serve them with fruit, jam, sour cream, or whipped cream. For a seasonal sweet blin, try a little cinnamon pumpkin butter sweetened with maple syrup or honey.
• Leftovers will keep up to 3 days if you refrigerate them in an airtight container. Just reheat them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds when you’re ready to eat them.

Key Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour – In some recipes, blini are made with buckwheat flour. You could use that instead of AP flour if you’d rather. You could also use a blend of buckwheat and all-purpose flour. For gluten free blini, use a gluten-free all-purpose flour.

Unsalted Butter – I generally recommend using unsalted butter so you don’t inadvertently make your food too salty. If all you have on hand is salted butter, cut the added salt in the ingredients down to ¼ teaspoon or omit it altogether.

Chef’s Tips

• If the skillet is too hot, the blini will either burn or cook unevenly. If it’s not hot enough, they’ll take too long to cook and will soak up the oil in the skillet. I generally set my heat to a 4 out of 10 and have good results with that temperature and my cast-iron skillet.
• Use a tablespoon or a cookie scoop to portion out the batter. That way all your blini will look uniform, and they’ll also cook consistently every time.
• The batter should be fairly liquid. If it’s too thick with only ¾ cup milk, add a little more – up to ¼ cup or so more.

Other Snacks and Apps You’ll Love

• Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
• Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
• Perfect Deviled Eggs with Bacon (Keto, Low Carb, Whole30)
• Bacon Wrapped Dates Recipe
• Cream Cheese Sausage Balls
• Crockpot Spinach Artichoke Dip