Potato and Cheddar Cheese Pierogi

Growing up, our culture was celebrated proudly by our family. I am Italian, Irish, Polish, and most recently through a DNA testing, I discovered I am French, Albanian, and North African. So growing up food was a big part of celebrating our roots as is with most families. Universally, we all celebrate moments of our life with food, family, and friends, and if we could all recognize that we are much more similar, then we are different, we could begin to celebrate one another, as well as becoming more tolerant and accepting.

My mother loved her Polish roots, and she loved her Pierogies. There is nothing better than eating homemade pierogies. They are a labor of love for sure, but so worth it!

Every culture has a form of some kind of dumpling, and it just supports how I feel about us being more similar then we are different. Italians have the Ravioli, Chinese have their Pot stickers, the Japanese have their Gyoza, Mexicans have the Empanada, you get the picture.

This recipe is very simple, from the dough that rolls out like butter, and tastes amazing, to the filling that is light and airy, with cheesy goodness. Give this one a try. These Potato and Cheddar Cheese Pierogies are so good!

Sinfully,

Susan xoxo

Whisk dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, and salt, together to combine.

Combine sour cream and eggs mixing well to combine. Add to dry ingredients, mix well and form into a ball gathering dough by hand. Transfer to floured surface and begin kneading until dough is soft but not wet. Add more flour as needed.

The dough is looking lovely at this point. Ready to mix the filling!

To a large bowl, add in mascarpone and fresh chives. I am lucky to still have fresh chives growing perfectly, in my herb garden, right outside my back door on my patio.

Begin to rice, warm potatoes over the mascarpone and chives. If you don’t have a ricer, I urge you to get one, my mashed potatoes are the bomb since I have been using one, going on almost 7 years now! Add in Kosher salt, and cracked black pepper. Mix well. Add in cheddar cheese. Mix well to combine.

This is what you are looking for. This method makes it much easier to fill and fold.

Hello gorgeous!!!

Crimp by hand or use a fork to press down and seal dough.

I had extra potato filling leftover, and Polish/Italian girls don’t waste food, so I made some Italian potato croquets, so easy to do. Combine one beaten egg, 1/3 cup of seasoned Panko along with 1/4 cup of Pecorino Romano cheese, and Kosher salt and pepper to taste, to the remaining potato filling, mix well and form into oval-shaped logs. Roll into a little bit more dry Panko, and fry until golden. My daddy would be so proud! So delish!!!

Now that’s how a Polish girl does a Pierogi!

Potato and Cheddar Cheese Pierogi

Servings: 12
Time: 1 hr.
Difficulty: easy
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A simply delicious, Polish classic, that's, light, creamy, and so full of cheesy goodness!

Credit: CrazySexySavor.com

Ingredients

For the dough

3 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. of baking powder
1 cup of sour cream
3 eggs
Kosher salt

For the potato cheddar cheese filling

1 3/4 cups of mashed cooked potatoes (I use a potato ricer to get a smooth filling)
1/4 cup of mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 tbsp. of chopped fresh chives
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
Kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste

For sauteing the Pierogies

3 tbsp. of butter, 1 tsp. of EVOO
1 whole onion diced finely
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste

I used a whole onion sautéed it first, then removed from skillet. Add in some butter and lightly fried the pierogies, adding onions on top when I served them.

Directions

For the dough

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, whisk to combine dry ingredients.
In a medium bowl add in sour cream, and eggs whisking to incorporate wet ingredients. Add to dry ingredients, mixing well to combine. Form into a ball with hands and place on lightly floured surface.
On floured surface, knead dough for five minutes until soft adding more flour as needed if dough seems wet. Add more flour to surface and roll out dough to about 1/8 of an inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2 inch to 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut dough circles, I like to stretch my circles as I am filling to ensure they are perfectly thin.

For the filling

Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender. Drain and mash using a ricer or potato masher. Season with Kosher salt and pepper. Add in mascarpone and chives. Mix well. Add in cheese. Mix well to combine.

To assemble the pierogies

Taking small mounds of potato about a teaspoonful. Roll into a ball. Fill the pierogi circles with dough. Fold in half and crimp closed by hand.
Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper. Place pierogies on lined baking sheet until you are finished assembling all the pierogies.
In a large pot of salted water, add pierogies careful not to overcrowd the pot. Pierogies are done when the begin to float to the top of the pot.
In a large skillet, on medium heat, add in a tiny bit of oil and butter, add in onions and begin to caramelize onions. Remove from frying pan, reserve to bowl, for topping finished pierogies. Drain pierogies with a spider or slotted spoon, and add to hot skillet and fry until lightly golden on both sides. Serve immediately with sour cream or applesauce. Devour!

CRAZYSEXYSAVOR