The blintz souffle, a concoction where a sweet, rich, egg and sour cream batter is poured over a dozen cheese blintzes and baked to a golden puffiness, has been called “gilding the lily,” by my friend Jess. This is understandable. Cheese blintzes are not a diet food, and a surrounding layer of sugar, eggs, and sour cream make them even less so. But the blintz souffle is portable, impressive, and the only way I know to make 12 blintzes serve 12-15 people. If you buy the frozen blintzes in a box at the store (which is actually cheaper than making your own) it is even a quick dish to put together. Leave an hour for baking. Adding mandarin orange sections puts jewels on the gilded lily.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a lasagna pan. Arrange 12 defrosted blintzes (your own or store-bought) in it. Grease an 8×8 square pan. Arrange 6 blintzes in that.
In the container of a blender, combine:
and whirl in blender until frothy.
Around edges of blintzes in lasagna pan, arrange:
3 cans of mandarin orange sections, drained, juice discarded.
and pour 1/2 to 2/3 of the batter around the oranges and blintzes in the lasagna pan.
Pour the remaining batter over the 6 blintzes in the smaller pan. Forget about the mandarin oranges, you’ve worked enough for one day.
Bake the souffles in the oven for 40 minutes or until puffy and golden. These freeze very well, with wax paper over the tops of the souffles and wrapped in foil, but allow 45 minutes for re-heating.
