Mlyntsi (Ukrainian thin pancakes) with Citrus Curd

No doubt that you have eaten a lot of fancy desserts in your life, but when I will ask you to name your favourite, I am almost sure it will be something from your childhood.  I have checked this theory not once,  and it works.

So, you must have guessed by now that my childhood wouldn't have been fully happy without mlyntsi. Kidding of course, but to be honest, mlyntsi were (and still are) the most respected dessert in our family. Mlyntsi are well known traditional food in Ukraine, which are similar to French-style crepes.  Our cuisine is pretty simple, it involves anything our ancestors had near at hand. Milk, eggs, butter and flour are exactly the foodstuffs that could be found in any home.

There are so many variations! If you'll fry one batch of crepes,  they will make an awesome breakfast, an amazing main course or appetizer and the most beloved dessert. And not only dessert, while we serve them  with savoury fillings no less than with sweet ones. I am totally crazy about mlyntsi stuffed with fried chicken and mushrooms. One love! By the way, when any kind of filling (cottage cheese, farmer cheese, stewed potato, apples etc.) is rolled or enveloped into a mlynets (singular) and then lightly re-fried, sauteed or baked , it is called nalysnyk.

My favourite way of eating them will always be to roll a plain mlynets and dip into sour cream and honey - just like I did as a child. And one more important thing - forks, knifes and spoons aren't required. There is something special in felling a warm and buttery mlynets in your fingers, maybe it helps me to move back in time of my childhood. And every time I make them I know that they will be exactly like from my childhood, because the recipe is the same. My mother's recipe.

I had to get rid of heaps of citrus and the best idea was to make a citrus curd and to serve with mlyntsi.

MLYNTSI with CITRUS CURD
makes 30, using an 8-inch (20 cm) pan

for mlyntsi
1000 ml milk
5 eggs
3-4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
260 g all purpose flour
40 g melted butter + more for frying

for citrus curd
3/4 cup freshly squeezed citrus juice from:
1 lemon
1 lime
1 orange
1 tangerine
1 grapefruit
 2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
40 g butter

To make mlyntsi
Lightly beat eggs with sugar. Add  half of the milk. Mix in the flour and salt until the mixture is smooth and have no lumps.  Add the rest of the milk and melted butter. Cover and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Heat the frying pan and grease it with butter. It have to be done only once. Pour half a ladder of batter on the centre of the pan and swirl it immediately so that the batter covers evenly the bottom of pan.
Once the under-side begins to brown flip the crepe over and cook for a few more seconds.

Stack fried mlyntsi one onto another covering with another plate to avoid dried edges.

To make citrus curd
Mix eggs and sugar in a large bowl, just until combined. Heat juice in a saucepan on a medium-high heat, but do not bring to a boil. In a steady stream pour juice in the sugar-eggs mixture, constantly stirring to prevent it from curdling. Pour in a saucepan and return on a medium-high heat. Cook until curd becomes thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add butter and stir well, until butter is dissolved completely. Pour into a jar. Store in the fridge up to 2 weeks.

- Xo Xo.

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