Pierogi dough
8 jumbo eggs
1 pint (16 oz or 2 cups) sour cream
8 cups all purpose flour
1-teaspoon salt
Mix together eggs and sour cream until combined. Stir together flour and salt and mix into sour cream and egg mixture until a soft dough forms. Sprinkle flour on board; turn out dough and knead lightly for a minute or two till the dough is smooth and less sticky. Place in a floured bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Cut off a fistful of dough and roll out on a floured board to approximately 1/8 inch thick. (don’t make it too thin because the dough will have to stretch a little around the filling.) Cut the dough into circles of desired size. (we cut our circles a bit on the large side. I would use a large round cookie cutter or an upside down glass or Custard cup that would be between 3 and 4 inches in diameter.) Set the scraps aside covered in plastic wrap because you will put them all together _and re-roll to make more pierogi after you go through all of the fresh dough.
Place a rounded tablespoonful of filling in the center of the dough circle. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch closed around the edges to seal. Set the filled pierogi on a well floured cloth.
Bring several quarts of water to a boil in a large pot or dutch oven (as you would for cooking noodles or pasta.) You don’t have to salt the water since there is salt in the filling and in the dough. When the water is at a rolling boil, drop several pierogi in and allow to cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. {you can cook 8-12 pierogi at a time, depending upon the size of your pot. We cook ours in a smaller, 4 quart dutch oven and we cook 8 pierogi at a time.
Lift the cooked pierogi out of the boiling water and place in a bowl of cold water for a minute or two to stop the cooking; then place in a colander to drain briefly. While the next batch cooks, place the margarine and butter for dipping in a small pot and melt over low heat. Dip the cooked pierogi in the melted butter and place in a bowl or casserole. At this point, they can be covered and stored in the fridge till you are ready to serve them. They can also be frozen at this point for longer storage: place cooked, buttered pierogi in a shallow pan, (we put ours on a jelly roll pan) and freeze. We put the frozen pierogi into zip-lock bags and can then remove whatever we want from the freezer. Move over mrs. T’s pierogi! If you don’t let them sit in the cold water bath too long and dip some right away, you can indulge yourself and eat some as they come out of the pot. I have to admit that this is one of our favorite ways to eat these. In fact, our children get themselves home at pierogi making time to “help” just so they can all get a share of the first ones out of the pot:)
Yield: about 8 dozen pierogi.
For dipping cooked pierogi: We dip our cooked pierogi in a combination of equal amounts of melted butter and margarine before we store them. They don’t stick together and tear so much after they get cold and are easy to reheat or freeze.
Potato filling
5 lbs potatoes (about 17 med.) Cooked as for mashed potatoes
1 lb. Velveeta cheese
8 oz. Cream cheese
1 onion sauted in 1 stick of butter or margarine
Cut velveeta into small pcs and place in bottom of mixer bowl
Cut cream cheese into small pcs and place in bottom of mixer bowl
Drain potatoes and put into mixer bowl with cheese, adding sauted onion while mashing potatoes.
Cabbage filling:
3 heads (medium size) cabbage – finely chopped on food processor
4 chopped onions
Margarine or butter- 1 stick
Tsp. Salt (start with smallest amount)
1 teas. Pepper
Adjust seasoning to taste
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 to 3/4 cups brown sugar
(start with smaller amount – add to taste)
Cook uncovered, stirring often. Drain in colander. Remove excess water by pressing and stirring.
Cottage cheese (sweet)
1-16 oz container of dry cottage cheese
1 tsp.melted butter
1 egg (beaten)
¼ c. Sugar
3 tbs. Raisins (optional)
1 tsp. Vanilla
Cream cheese with melted butter and add other ingredients. Serve with melted butter and sour cream