My husband, with a mouthful of potatoey goodness: “That’s a damn good pierogi!”

First off, if anyone has an issue with my spelling of pierogi/pierogies, you’re always welcome to read the dictionary or encyclopedia for your entertainment instead. This post is about making delicious dumplings filled with cheesy potatoes topped with buttery sautéed onions and served with fresh dollops of sour cream. And I’ll continue to use the words pierogi or pierogies when I’m identifying said dumpling. Maybe I’ll throw in a ‘perogy’ just for giggles, who knows.

That said, I’ve been asked to make pierogies on my site for the past month by a friend who wanted visuals along with a recipe. I’ve only made pierogies once before, and that was about 7 years ago. I only remember because it was so easy to whip up the homemade dough and potato mixture. It only takes a few ingredients for each, and you can choose to make it as complicated as you like (adding cheese, onions, garlic, chives, etc. to the potato filling). My pierogies have a potato and cheese mixture with a bit of dried chives. Some of you might want to add onions to the mixture rather than cheese, and if you do, sauté them before adding them to the potatoes. Same with the garlic.

I used sharp cheddar cheese in my filling because it’s one of the more pungent cheeses that packs the most flavor. I also know I used enough cheese when the potatoes turned orange. I also kept feeling the need to add butter and milk to my potatoes, but I had to remind myself I wasn’t making mashed potatoes. Taste the filling to make sure you’ve added enough salt and pepper, a good 6, 7, 10 mouthfuls will do. I added a little more s/p in the filling than I do with mashed potatoes, because it is a filling, so it needs to be handled like so.

Cheese and Potato Pierogies (makes 24)

Dough Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup water

Potato & Cheese Filling:

• 1 lb. russet potatoes
• 3 oz. grated cheddar cheese
• salt/pepper
• 1 Tbsp. dried chives

Other Ingredients:

• 1 onion, sliced thinly
• butter (for sautéing)
• flour (kneading and rolling dough)

Directions:

1) To make the dough: Combine flour and salt. Add beaten eggs and water. Mix the dough until it becomes elastic and can be molded into a ball. Add more flour if it is too sticky. Wrap ball of dough in plastic and set in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

2) To make the filling: Cut potatoes into cubes. Boil until soft. Mash with grated cheese, chives. Salt and pepper to taste. Let cool to room temperature.

3) To fill pierogies: Generously flour a cutting board and form the dough into a long roll. Add flour to the board and your hands as needed. Form 24 balls of dough from roll. Flatten a dough ball with your hand and make it large enough to place a heaping teaspoon (or more) or potato filling in center. Fold dumpling in half, and seal edges by crimping the sides together with a fork. Set on a floured surface and repeat until finished.

4) Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter on a large skillet. Sauté onions until browned, set aside.

5) To cook pierogies: Boil a large pot of salted water. On another burner, add 1 tsp. of butter on a skillet and heat on medium high heat. Add pierogies to the boiled water, 4-5 at a time but don’t overcrowd the pot. Boil for a few minutes until they float up, use a slotted spoon to lift them out onto a plate. Place drained pierogies onto the skillet and cook both sides until golden. Set on a plate and repeat process until finished. Top pierogies with sautéed onions and serve with sour cream.

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To make the dough: Combine flour and salt. Add beaten eggs and water.

Mix the dough until it becomes elastic and can be molded into a ball. Add more flour if it is too sticky.

Wrap ball of dough in plastic and set in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

To make the filling: Cut potatoes into cubes. Boil until soft.

As you can see…these russets were gigantic. I only used 1.5  potatoes for 1 pound.

I used the orange sharp cheddar cheese because I can see that I’ve added enough cheese when the potatoes turn orange. The oranger the better.

Mash with grated cheese, chives. Salt and pepper to taste. Let cool to room temperature.

Test out the taste by eating about 10 spoonfuls. DO IT, so I don’t feel bad that I did it.

If you have any leftover filling, eat that too.

To fill pierogies: Generously flour a cutting board and form the dough into a long roll. Add flour to the board and your hands as needed.

Form 24 balls of dough from roll.

Flatten a dough ball with your hand and make it large enough to place a heaping teaspoon (or more) or potato filling in center.

Try to make the filling into the shape of a ball if you can. It will give the pierogi a nice shape.

Fold dumpling in half, and seal edges by crimping the sides together with a fork.

Set on a floured surface and repeat until finished.

Pierogi dumplings are way more forgiving than Chinese potstickers. Since they’re filled with a starch rather than meat, after you boil them you won’t get enormous explosions from water being trapped inside the dumpling that cause splattering when they are sautéed. Don’t worry too much about any holes you can’t fix in the dumplings. I had a few holes but the filling wouldn’t escape even when I boiled them.

Slice onions into long thin strips.

Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter on a large skillet. Sauté onions until browned, set aside.

To cook pierogies: Boil a large pot of salted water. On another burner, add 1 tsp. of butter on a skillet and heat on medium high heat. Add pierogies to the boiled water, 4-5 at a time but don’t overcrowd the pot. Boil for a few minutes until they float up, use a slotted spoon to lift them out onto a plate. Place drained pierogies onto the skillet and cook both sides until golden. Set on a plate and repeat process until finished. Top pierogies with sautéed onions and serve with sour cream.

Enjoy! Have a nice weekend everyone.