Blins are thin pancakes made of yeast dough. Blins had a somewhat ritual significance for early Slavic peoples in pre-Christian times since they were a symbol of the sun, due to their round form. They were traditionally prepared at the end of the winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun (Butter Week, or Maslenitsa). This tradition was adopted by the Orthodox church and is carried on to the present day.

Traditional Russian bliny are made with yeasted batter, which is left to rise and then diluted with cold or boiling water or milk. When diluted with boiling water, they are referred to as zavarniye bliny. The bliny are then baked in a traditional Russian oven. In fact, the process of cooking bliny is still referred to as baking in Russian, even though these days they are almost universally pan-fried, like pancakes.

Recipe A small amount of dough, sugar and salt (the latter are put to taste) are to be dissolved in some quantity of warm (25-30 C) milk (all amounts are determined experimentally!). After adding flour and egg yolk, all components are to be intermixed until turning into a single mass, which should be placed in a warm (25-30 C) place for 2,5-3 hours. During fermentation the dough mass increases 2-3 times and, therefore, needs to be periodically intermixed - just to be kept inside the brims! When the dough is ready and its mass increases 2-3 times, egg white and cream should be whipped separately and added in the dough. Following it, the dough must be carefully intermixed once again, shortly before frying.  To fry good blinis Russians use small 15-18-cm. pans that are slightly oiled every time before pouring liquid dough mass over the pan.

Now, the most important point of the frying process comes!
Firstly, the dough mass must be poured quickly.
      Secondly, it must cover the whole surface.
            Thirdly, the thinner the blin is the better!

Every side of the blin must be fried until it is ready to be easily turned over. All this needs lot of practice and real skill. Remember, that even good Russian cooks fail often when firstly trying to fry blinis! May be because of this, one of the most popular proverbs in Russia is 'you must spoil before you spin'. The ready blinis must be buttered and piled. After this, all you have to do is to decide what to eat blinis with, and the choice is really rich!