If there’s one thing I deeply love, it’s Eastern European food.
I love the cold, you see, and with the cold comes the rib-sticking, delicious, buttery delights of the kitchen. Hungarian goulash. Vareniki. Pirozhkis. Borscht. Khachapuri. Cabbage rolls. ALL the sausages. Kolaczki. Povitica. The cheesecake! And last but not least, pierogies.
Pierogies are one of the main reasons I suspect that I have distant relatives in the Eastern Bloc, somewhere. No-one could love pierogies as much as I do without having it in their blood. I’m also SUPER pale with dark hair and eyes, so the evidence is stacking up pretty high (not at all).
Pierogies come filled with all different thangs, sometimes sweet, like plums or blueberries (blueberry pierogies, hell yes) and often savoury, like pickled cabbage, pork or beef, potatoes and cheese. I chose to go the potato + cheese route, because it has never steered me wrong before.
If you’ve ever made filled pasta, then you will likely find this a total breeze to do. The method is like a much simpler ravioli, in as much as the dough should be pleasantly thick, not wafer thin like good pasta, and pierogies are much less prone to bursting open when they are boiled.
The dough for pierogies is super forgiving as well, and just needs to be pressed together – similar to making gyoza, but without the pleats! OK, I’m starting to see that all dumpling making is very similar.
These would be heavenly served with the traditional accompaniments of slow-cooked onions, dill and sour cream, but because I can never leave well enough alone, I whipped up a herb browned butter bath for my dumplings.
This has the added bonus of crispy sage leaves and thyme tips to add some texture and crunch to your dumpling experience. Also, browned butter is never a bad idea.
It took me about 45 minutes to make these dumplings. Which, yes, is an undertaking. But not a major one, for dumplings from scratch. I did it like this:
Put potatoes on to boil.
Make pierogie dough in stand mixer.
Set dough aside to rest.
Whip the cooked potatoes + cream cheese + nutmeg together in the mixer.
Roll out the dough, cut out the dough, fill the dumplings.
Put water on to boil.
Put butter and herbs on to melt.
Boil dumplings, toss with butter.
Scoff unceremoniously.
So what do you think? Dumplings for the win?
xx Sarah.
Pierogies with Herb Butter
Filling and herb butter by Sarah Coates for The Sugar Hit.
Dough recipe from here.
INGREDIENTS
For the dough:
2 1/4 cups (335g) plain flour
1 egg
1/2 cup (125ml) warm water
For the filling:
2 small potatoes (roughly 250g or 1/2 pound all up)
5 oz (125g) cream cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt
For the herb butter:
100g butter
15-20 sage leaves
5-6 sprigs of thyme
juice of 1/2 lemon
small bunch of chives
First, peel the potatoes and put them on to boil. Next, place all the dough ingredients into a food processor or stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix until the dough comes together. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes (by hand or machine) until it is smooth, and then set it aside to rest for 15 minutes, or up to an hour (or overnight wrapped in plastic in the fridge). Once the potatoes are done, place them in the mixer bowl with the cream cheese, nutmeg and a big pinch of salt and mix until the filling is smooth (or do the same by hand).
Take one third of the dough and roll it out to a thickness of about 1/8 in (2 mm). Using an 8cm cutter, cut as many rounds as you can. I ended up with 10 rounds from each piece of dough. Place a tsp of filling in the centre of each round, and then fold the edges up over the filling and press them together to make a half-moon shape. Place each one on a lined baking sheet, not touching each other, while you finish the rest of the dumplings.
To cook the dumplings, place them in a large pot of boiling water. Once they float to the surface, they need two minutes, and then they’re done. While the dumplings cook, make the herb butter. Place the butter into a frying pan, and when it has melted and is foaming, add the sage and thyme leaves. Continue to cook until the butter starts to brown, and then add the juice of half a lemon and turn off the heat. Toss the cooked pierogies in the butter, scatter with chives and serve.
These look amazingly good. I would love to try some sweet pierogies. Thanks for sharing.
oh so good! I’m Czech, and I believe pierogies are Polish (not sure), but I love them! I used to date this guy who’s grandma made homemade pierogies. She stuffed them with cheesy mashed potatoes, and topped them with a burnt onion butter sauce. Heavens to Betsy, it was freaking unbelievable. I can’t wait to try your version. 45 minutes to heaven!
That sounds SO AMAZING.
Definitely for the win!! That is pure comfort on a plate. They are beautiful Sarah!
Thanks Maria. :)
I’ve just died and gone to pierogie heaven.
I love pierogies! I’ve only had them once or twice, when a friend of our family’s came over and made them. They look surprisingly easy and that herb butter sounds so delicious!
Pinning this.
ZOMG, pierogies! These look amazing! I have never succeeded in making my own, but I love them so. I think I’m going to have to give it another try now!
These look like beautiful little pasta shells! I’m into it.
This looks soooo amazing!! Fo Reals, i gotta make some Pierogies ASAP. Bravo lady. :)
One of my friends made pierogies this weekend and her comment was “not worth the effort”. But I totally beg to differ! These look amazing.
Oh my – now I have to eat pierogies for dinner! We don’t have a lot of food traditions in my family but my mother and i always make a batch of homemade pierogies every winter. And there is a pierogi fest in the town over from us which is about the best thing ever to have a celebration around!
Oh man, I want to go to Pierogi fest!
These look awesome! Cream cheese and nutmeg in Pierogi? Awesome. I’ll tell you what, you make me a batch of these and I’ll make you a batch of my Bacon, Cheddar, and Caramelized Onion Pierogi, haha!
Seriously, looks great!
So with you on this type of food. We actually made cabbage roll soup (so all the ingredients you could find in a cabbage roll but in soup form) So good! Can’t wait to try making pierogies.
I LOVE PIEROGIES!! I cannot wait to try these!
Thisis so fantastic. I love pierogi! I have never made them from scratch but 45 minutes is quicker than homemade gyoza, I’m pretty sure! Love the sauce treatment you came up with, too. I don’t know if there’s anything better in the world than soft dough around creamy potato and cheese….. heaven!!
This looks delicious!! :P
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ooooooo, these are a magical thing of beauty. :)
Glad to hear somebody has an appreciation for the humble foods of my people! These look awesome ;)
Holy yum! I love pierogi, too, and 45 min isn’t too bad at all. Especially since you get to enjoy these pillows of goodness afterward!
Ohh yum yum! I’ve wanted to try making some of these ever since i tried some a few years ago in poland – stuffed with musrooms, which was wonderful. these look yummy too!
Gosh! I just found your blog and think it’s one of those places on the internet where you really want to return over and over again – you seem so nice! :)
Since I’m from Poland, I especially love your love for Eastern European cooking . And pierogi are my all-time-favourites – seriously, if i could marry pierogi and have children with it, I certainly would <3
I was just wondering – do you have any other kind of white cheese, or is there only cream cheese in the US? 'Cos traditional pierogi go with this kind of sour white cheese (not very sour – rather "sour cream style" sour) and fried chopped onion mixed with potatoes as a filling – and trust me, they are AMAZING! Way more hmmm… tastefull? distinct? I think that would be a proper word :) than ones made with cream cheese- you should definitelly try it! :)
Greetings from Poland !
That sounds delicious! I used cream cheese because it is the most widely available here (in Australia!) but I’m sure I’d be able to hunt down a more traditional white cheese. And I think I’ll have to because it sounds delicious!
I’m sorry 0 now I see you are Australian… My mistake!
No problemo!