Pierogies

This is my mother-in-law's recipe, passed down from my husband's grandma who came from the Ukraine. Plan to set aside a whole day for this. You won't be disappointed, and your family will want this more than once a year! At least it does make a lot of pierogies that can be frozen and cooked later. They are the best. I have modified this recipe to amounts that work well for me.



Filling:
Start cooking potatoes first.
About 12 large potatoes, cut up slightly, boiled in water until tender, and mashed with potato masher (don't add milk or water)
1 pkg. farmer's cheese, shredded
1 onion, diced and sauteed in 2 TBSP butter or margarine
salt and pepper to taste

Make filling and set aside, covered.

Start Dough:
1 lb. tub of Smart Balance or other margarine, softened
1 1/2 (16 oz) containers regular sour cream
1 1/2 c. milk
9 eggs
3 tsp. salt
Mix all well in very large bowl.
Add about 3/4 pkg flour or until it makes a soft dough.
Knead a few minutes.

Place a small amount of dough on well floured, long cutting board. (Walmart has one). Sprinkle plenty of flour on top. You want these sticky enough to hold together, but not to stick to the cutting board.

Roll out. Use a coffee cup to cut circles. Place a teaspoon of mashed potato dough in center of each circle. Fold one side over. Pinch with fingers along one edge to seal. (Some seal better than others- if you get any filling on edge, it will not seal well).

If you have leftover dough, roll out again and recut.

Place these on cooking sheet lined with wax paper, one deep, until ready to cook, or freeze right away, being careful that none touch each other (or they will be hard to get apart). If you are freezing, cover trays well with foil. (They really don't do well when stacked- one layer is best. They either stick to the wax paper or each other).
Keep dough covered as much as possible while working as it drys out.

If you have either leftover filling or dough, you could cover and refrigerate, and make extra of the other another day. It usually works out evenly for me, though.

To cook:

(If frozen, lay out in refrigerator a day ahead, or they could be difficult to get the wax paper off them).

Place in salted, boiling water for a few minutes. (Don't delete this step). If you don't boil first, they will taste raw after being fried.

Take out of boiling water with a slotted spoon, and place in margarine in a frying pan on fairly low heat. These do tend to burn and stick. Try to turn them over quickly or move them a little so that they get some margarine on them and don't stick as much.

Fry until golden brown on both sides. (Optional: Fry diced onion with them for better flavor).
Serve with plenty of salt, pepper, (we use the big flake pepper), and sour cream.

For a true Ukrainian supper, serve these pierogies with sour cream, and Kielbasa (pronounced kibossy)(I use the low-fat) which has been sliced into 1/4" slices around the ring, fried in a little oil until browned, then serve with mixture of bottled red cabbage and horseradish, mixed and eaten with the kielbasa