Pierogi - Potato Cheese Dumplings

"Comfort food is a dish that provides nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation". (Thank you, Wikipedia). Pierogi (plural can be pierogis or pierogi) check all the above boxes. They are basically doughy pockets of a sweet or savory filling which are then boiled and/or fried. These specific pierogi are filled with cheesy mashed potatoes and fried in bacon grease. Think: a Chinese dumpling or Italian ravioli filled with a loaded mashed potato. If that doesn't comfort you - dough, cheese, bacon, and potatoes - I don't know what will.

As both my hunny and I are of Polish descent, these little dumplings curb our nostalgic (and regular) appetite.

This make about 50 dumplings.

Potato Filling:

• 2 lbs of russet potatoes
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 - 4 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella*
• 1/2 cup cheddar*

*I use these cheese because I often have them and they are my favorite. Use what you have or like.

Dough:

• 3 egg
• 8 oz sour cream
• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder

Topping (optional):

• 4 oz bacon, chopped
• 2 Tbsp butter
• Sour cream

Materials:

• Knife
• Wet paper towel or plastic wrap
• Rolling pin and/or pasta machine
• 3" round cutter (either a cookie cutter or a glass, something with a sharp edge)
• Optional: pierogi press (buy or 3d print)
• Optional: mixer with dough hook
• Small dish with water (for sealing pierogi closed
• Pot of boiling water
• Frying pan

Potato Filling:

• 2 lbs of russet potatoes
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 - 4 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella
• 1/2 cup cheddar

First we are making our filling, which is basically dry mashed potatoes. How you get to the mashing step is up to you. Sometimes I will leave the skin on, dice up the potatoes, and put in my Instant Pot with chicken broth as the liquid. But since I wanted these pierogi to be more "normal", I boiled my potatoes. You can peel your potatoes and then boil them; that's how my mom does it. Or, I like to save myself time by boiling, then peeling. I make a shallow cut with a knife around the belly of the potato, boil the potatoes like normal for about 25-30 minutes (until a fork can be inserted easily), drain them, and then just rub off the skin. By making the initial cut, the skins are just ready to fall off.

While the potatoes are cooking, fry up the onions until they are golden brown and set them to the side. After all the potatoes are peeled, we add the rest of the ingredients - salt, butter, cream cheese, mozzarella, cheddar - and mash. TASTE the filling now! Add what you think it needs, just make sure it stays relatively dry.

Dough:

• 3 egg
• 8 oz sour cream
• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder

There are tons of recipes online for unleavened dough; however, I am partial to sour cream dough. This dough is a tad harder to roll out, but I didn't have a single pierogi rip while pulling the dough around the filling.

We start by whisking the egg and sour cream together. Then in a separate mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. If you have a sifter, you can sift your dry ingredients. I do not (forgive me, mom). Next, we pour the egg and sour cream mixture over the flour ingredients and use a dough hook to mix in the mixer for about 10 minutes.

Using a mixer is a new thing for me; I just found a cheap Kitchenaid at a garage sale. If you don't have a mixer, or prefer to knead by hand, you can do so on a lightly floured flat surface. I tried to link to an Instructable about kneading dough, but apparently the Instructable community really likes "no-knead bread". Sorry folks. Just mix it first to combine, and then smash it a bunch of times into itself until it's smooth and elastic.

Let your dough rest for about 30 minutes and keep covered with a damp paper towel or plastic wrap. Making dough while the potatoes are cooking works out pretty well.

Once you are ready to roll out, you have a couple options. You can roll it out with a rolling pin or use a pasta machine. If you are using a rolling pin only, cut the dough in half or quarters and roll from the center out until the dough is evenly about 1/8" inch. If you are using a pasta press, you will need to take small pieces of the dough, roll out a flat oblong shape, and stick in the pasta machine starting at the 7 and decreasing to a smaller width each time (I stop at 4 or so). Using a pasta machine takes more time as the sections are smaller, but rolling out to an exact width is easier.

Whichever method you use, make sure the dough you aren't using is covered to keep it from drying.

Take your 3" cutter (or whatever size is a little bigger than your pierogi press if you have one) and cut out the dumpling circles. Remove the scraps and stick back with other dough.

Start off by grabbing yourself a chair*, some music or tv, and definitely a pierogi-stuffing partner. This is what makes pierogis comfort food - not just the cheese - but the time spent pulled up to the counter making them with family or friends.

*You'll need a chair because this can take a bit of time. Getting or making a pierogi press (linked on the ingredients page) will make the process fly. Maybe this is why I haven't made one yet...

For this step you'll need your dough rounds, a spoon, filling, a dish of water, and a pierogi press or fork.

Take a small spoonful of your filling and roll it in your hands to smooth it down; I like to make it oblong a bit so it lays better in the dumpling. I dip my finger in the water and circle around the dough, so the dumpling is more likely to stay closed. Then I fold the round into what looks like a taco and begin to press from the top edge out. Get all the air bubbles out of the dumpling as you go, and try to keep the filling out of the edge. You can either go back and press the seam again and add in fancy curled edges, or take a fork and press the edges together.

If using a pierogi press, lay a dough round in the press, add a spoonful of filling, and clamp down. Wait... why haven't I bought one of these yet?...

Lay formed pierogi on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper sprayed with oil, and don't let the dumplings touch, as they are prone to sticking. (side note: this dough recipe is actually pretty non-sticky, which is why I like it).

The bacon frying part is optional, but I highly recommend it. First, chop up some bacon and fry it. Remove bacon bits with a slotted spoon and leave as much grease as possible as that is what we will fry the dumplings in.

Get a stockpot of water boiling and drop in dumplings, making sure the pot isn't crowded. (I boiled about eight pierogi at a time.) As soon as you drop them in, gently stir them; otherwise, they will stick to the bottom. Once the dumplings float, start a timer for 3-5 minutes.

If you are going to eat the pierogi without frying them, stick them on an oiled plate. If you are frying them, place them on a plate with a paper towel. If you pull out a super wet boiled pierogi and stick it in grease, you will get major poppage. But don't let the pierogi stay on the paper towel too long or you will get major stickage. Just a quick dry is needed.

Place the pierogi in the grease pan and fry until golden brown. If you start to run out of grease, add some butter. Only fry what you are going to eat today!

Place the fried pierogi on a place and top with lots of sour cream and the bacon bits. My family also likes to dip piergoi in rotel dip, so there's that.

Boil all your pierogi, but if you want leftovers, place the unfried dumplings on a parchment paper lined sheet and freeze. Then stick in a ziplock back. When you are ready to eat, you can place the frozen dumplings in the hot grease with a lid and they will cook in a few minutes.