What does blintze mean?
A blintze is a thin, delicate pancake resembling a French crepe, traditionally associated with Eastern European Jewish cuisine. The pancake is cooked until just set, then wrapped around a filling—most classically a sweet mixture of farmer's cheese, egg, and sugar, though fruit or potato fillings are also common—and folded into a neat envelope. The filled blintze is then pan-fried in butter or baked until golden and slightly crisp on the outside while soft within. Blintzes are typically served with sour cream, fruit preserves, or a fruit sauce, and they hold a special place at Shavuot, the Jewish holiday whose customs favor dairy foods. The English word derives from Yiddish, itself borrowed from a Slavic source related to Russian blin, meaning a small pancake. Both the singular 'blintze' and the anglicized plural 'blintzes' are widely used, as is the variant spelling 'blintz.' Though rooted in a specific culinary tradition, the dish is now familiar far beyond Jewish communities, appearing on brunch menus and in home kitchens across North America.
nounA blintze is a thin, crepe-like pancake, typically filled with sweetened cheese, fruit, or potato, then folded and fried or baked. It is a traditional dish of Eastern European Jewish cuisine, usually served with sour cream or fruit topping.
- A thin filled pancake of Eastern European Jewish cuisine: a crepe wrapped around a sweet or savory filling such as sweetened cheese, folded into an envelope shape, and pan-fried or baked before serving.
"For Sunday brunch she made cheese blintzes topped with warm blueberry sauce."
"The deli's cheese blintzes, crisped in butter and dusted with powdered sugar, sold out by noon."
"At the Shavuot meal, Grandma served blintzes with sour cream and strawberry preserves alongside the usual dairy dishes."
The plural 'blintzes' is the most frequent form in actual usage, since the dish is usually discussed in servings; the variant 'blintzes' from the alternate spelling 'blintz' is identical in form.
"The caterers prepared two hundred blintzes for the Shavuot reception."
The blintze is essentially a Jewish crepe — a thin pancake wrapped around sweetened farmer's cheese and fried until golden, a beloved centerpiece of Shavuot dairy feasts.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of blintze
The word blintze entered English through Yiddish, in which it denotes a filled pancake. Yiddish borrowed it from a Slavic source — compare Ukrainian and Polish forms such as mlyntsi and naleśniki traditions — ultimately related to Russian blin, a small pancake. The root traces back to Old East Slavic mlinъ, connected to milling and flour, making blintze a distant cousin of words for ground grain products across Slavic languages.
Related word forms
How blintze is actually used
Both singular 'blintze' and plural 'blintzes' are common; 'blintz' is a frequent variant spelling. The word is used almost exclusively in the context of Jewish or Eastern European food and appears most often in plural form when referring to servings.
Easily confused with blintze
A blin is a small Russian pancake often served with caviar or sour cream, while a blintze is a filled, folded pancake of Ashkenazi Jewish tradition.