pierogies,like mrs.t's

[Alice Sr.]

You are quite welcome,

Here is a link to my MIL's website on the Ukranian recipe's page. At the bottom click on the link for "Georgia's recipe Heaven" , there are a TON of yummy recipe's there. She was a stay at home mother for 7 and is a GREAT cook. There is a link to her main page too with lots of other information including a link to her Ukranian Easter Eggs she makes- INCREDIBLE!:
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/Pointe/5892/Recipe2.html
Thanks,

Lesley thank you so much for posting, that was very generous of you!

 

[disnut8]

OK - I started this so here's my recipe for pierogies. It's Polish and Pennsylvania Dutch combined.

3 c flour
2 eggs
1 t shortening
1 t baking powder
1 t salt (I've been omitting this for several years and haven't missed it)

About one cup water

Put everything into a big bowl and start by stirring with a wooden spoon. When the moisture is dissolved, scrape off the spoon and then remove all jewelry from your hands and wrists. Get the dough going with your hands and knead until a good texture. You will have to add more water if too dry or more flour if too wet. I find that when I can easily peel the dough from my fingers, it's ready to go.

Divide the dough in half. Spread a layer of flour on whatever rolling surface you are using. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch consistency. It doesn't have to be perfect but don't go too thin. Thicker is better than thin. Then cut out circles of whatever size you want. I use a cheap Tupperware round bowl about 5 inches but we like our pierogies big. You can go smaller.

Load one half of the cut dough with whatever mixture you want. We use ricotta cheese but more traditional would be mashed potatoes and cheese or, in the Pennsylvania Dutch style, stuffing or filling. Anything is fine. Then fold over the dough to make a half circle. Seal the seam by mashing the edges together and then applying water to the dough. Sounds dumb but it works. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

What I usually do is get up in the morning, make the pierogies and put them on a serving plate in the refrigerator. I have found that make them stronger. And it frees up the rest of my day.

To cook - get a big pot of water boiling. Put about five pierogies into the water and make sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pot. After about 5-10 minutes, they will rise to the top of the water. Remove. Repeat with remaining pierogies. You don't want to crowd the water.

Have a pan of melted butter and onions (if desired) waiting. Fry the pierogies in the butter and serve with melted butter. It's really not that bad if you use diet stuff (yeah, right!).

The dough recipe is my mother's, the cooking method and filling is my mother-in-law's. This is truly a family affair as I make the things and my husband cooks them. We have yet to mess up a batch.