Who Wants to Make Pierogies?!?

I DO! So, I am! I have been thinking about coming home all morning and making them. So far I have the dough made and chilling and am preping the filling... yes, I am blogging and making pierogies! I am sooo excited to make them and hope that they turn out right and taste good! I want to be able to find a good recipe and make some in bulk so I can freeze some (I do that when I make meatballs as well and pizza dough). It makes life easier every now and then...and easier for nights you don't feel like doing (or have the time) all the prep thats involved in some meals but makes it better than just store bought frozen food (which I dis-like, most of the time). So, this is the story of my day - making pierogies and going to share the process with you! A lot of people I have talked to say its so hard or not necessarily hard but time consuming to make them and I want to see where the time consuming part comes in... I hope to find that it isn't hard or time consuming... Also, (I have a lot of hopes today! :) hehe I am just a hopeful person I guess!) I hope to maybe incorporate it into a tradition for my family to have the pierogies on Christmas Eve and the Eve of Easter. We didn't do it this year but I did think of it - actually, we DID have pierogi's on Christmas Eve - that were homemade by a friend of ours. I forgot about that...anyway, but I didn't make them - which isn't a big deal either way but... Regardless, I have Easter to look forward to making them and hopefully I will find that this recipe that I am using now will be a winner!

The Process:

In a mixing bowl, or mixer (which is what I used), take 2 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Beat one large egg and add to the flour mixture. Add 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup butter (which has been cut up into small pieces). Mix ingredients together making sure not to mix too much (not sure what too much is...but thats what the original recipe said).

(the beaten egg, sour cream and chopped butter)

Just mix until the ingredients are incorporated - dough will still have a slight stickieness to it. Wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate for 30 minutes (Or overnight and can be stored up to 2 days). While the dough is chilling you can prepare the filling. You need 5 potatoes peeled, boiled and mashed. I had a container of leftover mashed potatoes (about 3 cups) which I am using. I love finding new ways to use leftovers besides just re-heating (how boring is that! lol).

(Me :) wanted to make an appearance while cooking up some onions!)

Sautee up some onions (I took about 1/4 of a large onion) in some butter. Add to the potatoes with a pinch of salt (to taste), a dash of pepper (to your liking), and any other ingredients you would like to be creative with. You could add some bacon bits and chives. I was considering using some hamburger meat to hearty up the pierogies but decided against it - just because. Oh and don't forget the cheese! I added four different cheeses, just because we had some bits here and there and thought it would add a nice flavor to the traditional cheese flavor.

There's Cabot's Tuscan Cheese (mmmm its soooo delicious!), a bit of orange cheddar (I believe its a sharp one), a smidge of a smoked cheese (thought it might add a very subtle flavor of smokieness), and there was a small handfull of a colby jack we had left lonely in a bag.

Add it all together and mix - I put it in the fridge while I rolled out the dough and got everything else ready.

NEXT:

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and use a cookie cutter or the bottom of a glass and make circle cut outs. It should be about 2 inches in diameter or so. It makes about 12-15 pierogie - I think I cut out 22. It varies depending on how thin your dough is, how far you stretch it, etc. Use your own judgement. (I actually rolled out the circles a little bigger after they were cut out. This helped a little since the circles were on the smaller side. I also found that I needed to rub a little water on the edge to keep it closed a little better. They sealed OK without doing this but MUCH better once I got them a little wet.)

All cut out!

Then add your filling, fold circle in half and use a fork to krimp the edges! OOOO LOook how pretty!!!

After you are finished making all the pierogies, boil a pot of water and drop the pierogies in. They should cook for about 6-10 minutes depending. You will know they are done once they float on top of the water. Take out, rinse with cold water (to prevent them sticking together), and let dry. Then fry up in some butter with some onions and serve with some yummy sour cream. Enjoy! I will share a picture once they had been fried... have to wait till dinner to fry them up, as I made them ahead of time. Hope you like the recipe and enjoy making it as much as I did!

UPDATE: Here they are plated with some veggies and some sour cream! YUM!!! They were DELICIOUS!