My grandmother (or Babci in Polish) never wrote her recipes down and she passed away over 30 years ago. Fortunately, my older sister had the foresight to watch her make these pierogis and take notes. While variations of this recipe abound -- some are filled with potatoes, some with sauerkraut, others with meat fillings, this is the kind I remember most, especially at Christmas time.

More Polish Food Click here for my grandmother's traditional Polish Chrusciki cookie recipe.

Dough
1 cups mashed potatoes at room temperature
3 eggs at room temperature
2 1/2 cups flour

Filling
1 quart farmer's cheese or cottage cheese (see step 1 below of using cottage cheese)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar

2 large or 3 medium onions, chopped
1 cup butter

Makes About 3 Dozen Small Pierogis

If you can't find farmer's cheese you can use cottage cheese, but drain it overnight as in Photo 1. Place the cottage cheese in a strainer or colander liner with cheesecloth. Cover and refrigerate overnight or longer to separate the liquid from these cheese. Even with draining it, your filling might be a little to loose and liquidy. If you find this to be true, add a little bit of instant mashed potatoes to the cheese mixture to stiffen up the filling a bit.

1.

Prepare the filling by puree all the filling ingredients together. Set aside.

Prepare the onions by melting half the butter over medium high high in a large skillet. As soon as the butter melts, add the onions. Cook until the onions are just barely golden brown. Melt the remaining butter in the pan with the onions. Set aside and keep warm. (Photo 2).

2.

Prepare the dough my mixing all the potatoes and eggs together in the bowl of an electric mixer until well combined. Slowly beat in the flour. If your dough seems too stiff, add some water a tablespoon at a time until you have a nice soft dough.

To roll the dough you will be working with small balls of dough. Keep the rest of the dough in the bowl, covered with a clean damp kitchen towel to keep it from drying out while you are working. Take about 1/4 of the dough and use a rolling pin to roll dough out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use a large round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a large glass or small bowl) to the cut dough into circles. Put about a tablespoon of filling in the center of the circle (Photo 3).

3.

Fold the circle in half, being careful not to let the filling spread to the edges. Use your fingers to pinch the dough closed around the half circle (Photo 4). It is very important to seal the pierogis very well, otherwise the filling will leak out during cooking! Photo 5 shows several of the finished pierogis ready for cooking.

4. 5.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Lower the heat to achieve a gentle bowl and use a slotted spoon to gently lower several pierogis into the pot, one at a time. You can cook several at once, just don't overcrowd the pot or they could stick together. Boil for about 4-5 minutes, turn, then boil for another 4-5 minutes (Photo 6).

6.

Put a thin layer of onions and melted butter in the bottom of a casserole dish. Remove the pierogis from the boiling water with a slotted spoon. drain then add to the casserole dish in a single layer. Place another thin layer of butter and onions over the top of the pierogis. Continue to layer cooker pierogis and onions in the casserole -- the butter will keep the pierogis from sticking together (Photo 7). Pierogis are ready to eat, or you can refrigerate them until later. Heat in the casserole dish in the oven. You can also wrap the casserole dish well and freeze for later use. Heat the frozen pierogis in a 400°F oven for about 40-50 minutes or until heated through.

7.