Cooking, Crafting and Photography

I remember going to my Ukrainian Grandma’s house for lunch with my mom, and there would always be a 12-course meal of homemade donuts, cake, tea, creamed chicken, borcht, fresh kubasa (garlic sausage), and homemade perogies – cottage cheese, cheddar/bacon, and sometimes blueberry perogies too.

I got ambitious last night and decided to make perogies all on my own. I have made them before, but always as an assistant “filler”. Turns out, it’s not that hard. Especially if you halve the recipe like I did. It took about an hour from start to finish, including boiling the potatoes and it made about 24 perogies, or enough for four people’s lunch/dinner.

Modified from original recipe at AllRecipes.com : Grandma’s Polish Perogies

Cheddar-Bacon & Onion Perogies

(makes approx. 24 perogies)

Dough:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 Large egg
• 2 Tbsps vegetable oil

Filling:

• 2 large (or 3 medium) baker’s potatoes, peeled and cubed  (use starchy potatoes)
• 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 onion. chopped very finely
• 1/4 cup Real bacon bits (or cooked bacon, chopped into bits)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder  (optional)
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper (to taste)

Making the Dough:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour & salt, mix well.

2. Melt butter in microwave in glass measuring cup, on high for 20 seconds or so.

3. Add sour cream to the melted butter and stir well. Add the egg and vegetable oil and mix well.

4. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredient’s bowl. Stir until a dough forms. Knead a few times and form into a ball. The dough should be slightly sticky. Cover with damp dish towel and set aside while you do the potatoes.

Making the Filling:

5. Peel, cube and boil potatoes until tender (you are basically making mashed potatoes). Drain, run under cold water and drain again. Mash the potatoes in the pot. Set aside to cool while you grate the cheddar and chop up the bacon and onions. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder, onions, bacon and cheddar to the mashed potatoes and mix well.

Assembly:

6. Divide dough into two equal sized balls. Roll out one of the balls on a lightly floured counter. Lightly flour the rolling pin just enough so it doesn’t stick to the dough  (but not too much or else the edges won’t seal). Roll out to about 1/8″ thickness (you want it fairly thin or else  the perogies will be tough).

7. Take a drinking glass or round cookie cutter (3″-31/2″ in diameter), flour the cutting surface and cut out circles from the dough. Try to make them as close together as possible.

8. Take each circle and put a rounded teaspoon of filling in the middle. Fold the dough in half, pinch the edges together along the edge one way, and then go back along and pinch again to make sure it’s sealed completely. You can wet the edges with your finger dipped in water if you find they are not sticking. Roll out the other ball of dough and repeat. (There will be some remnants of dough when you are done cutting, and you can maybe roll it out again, but the perogies tend to get tougher and not stick together when you use this dough.)

9. Place them spaced out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper. Freeze them on the cookies sheet until frozen solid and then store in a Ziploc Freezer bag until ready to cook.

Cooking:

Boil a large pot of salted water. Drop perogies in one by one. Boil until they all float. Drain and eat. My favorite toppings are bacon bits, green onions and sour cream.

Blueberry Filling:

2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
2 Tbsp Cornstarch
2 Tbsp Sugar
pinch cinnamon

Mix above together and place 1 teaspoon of filling in perogies. May want to use a slightly larger circle to cut the dough with. Pinch to make sure they are sealed. Boil as usual and top with homemade whipped cream and icing sugar sprinkled overtop.