Its been a little while since I’ve posted a recipe on my blog, and I promised a couple of people I’d post this one, so here it is!

Perogies are a potato-filled dough that are popular in the Ukraine. Dave also had them frequently on his mission in Canada. The Wikipedia article provides various spellings for and various countries associated with perogies. Follow the link if you want to learn more.

In any case, perogies have become a pretty popular dish around our house.

Perogies are traditionally filled with a potato based filling, but it is also pretty common to use fruit as a filling. Once cooked they are traditionally served with sour cream. We like eating ours with ranch dressing (or cool whip, in the case of the fruit filled).

Perogies

The Filling (one option, anyway):

8 – 10 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (or potato pearls)
1 onion, finely chopped
6 Tbsp. butter
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
4 – 6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes until tender. Remove and place in a medium-sized bowl. Mash. Reserve cooking water for dough.
Saute onion in butter.

Add onion (with butter) to mashed potatoes. Add cheeses and bacon. Season to taste.

Set aside, and allow to cool.

The Dough:

2 1/4 c. reserved potato water, cooled to lukewarm (or just regular lukewarm water, if you’re lazy like me)
6 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 eggs
6-7 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Combine the water, oil, and eggs well.

Mix together the salt and flour, and add to the wet mixture.

Combine and knead, adding flour as necessary, until the dough is no longer sticky.
(If using a bosch or kitchen aide, the dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl)

Let down stand for 20 minutes.

Flour the counter top and roll to 1/8″ – 1/4″ thickness. Use a back of a dough press to cut circles from the dough. Fill and seal the perogies. (The dough press can be purchased at Kitchen Kneads, or various places online. We generally use the mid-sized press – 4.75″)

Place filled perogies on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet.

Once the cookie sheet is filled, place the tray in the freezer approx. 30 minutes. Once frozen, remove from the tray and place in zippered freezer bags.

To serve:

Remove the perogies from the freezer and drop into a pot of boiling water. Stir occasionally to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Once the perogies float to the top, remove from the water and place in a buttered frying pan. Brown (as desired) on both sides. Serve hot with ranch dressing or sour cream.

Variations
There are a lot of variations you can make to the filling. Don’t be scared to get creative… see what you like. We’ve tried strawberries, apples, blueberries, sausage & eggs, and various combinations of mashed potatoes with other ingredients. (Note: when using fruit, cut it up small and add sugar and flour – to sweeten and thicken)
The wikipedia article suggests even more fillings… sauerkraut, fish, cabbage, onion, rice, hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, etc… Most are specific to a certain country or group of people. The sky is the limit.

Here are a few more pictures of the perogie making process.
Cutting circles out of the dough.

Filled perogies on wax-paper lined tray.

My messy child.

Perogies browning in the frying pan. Just before serving.

Thanks Sandra and Elizabeth for making these with me the other day. I had tons of fun, and it was great to try new ingredients!

If anyone makes these I’d love you know what you think. And if you get creative with the fillings, let me know how that turns out too!

By the way… I have another sister celebrating a birthday this month. Today is Francine’s birthday. She’s 18!! A regular adult. Can you believe that??

Happy birthday Franny, we love you!