Homemade Perogies - Courtesy of Heather!

One of the highlights while living in Russia was the lunches we shared at the school. Seriously, the food was A-mazing! We had perogies at least once a week, they’re like the Russian version of dumplings.

Left to Right: Anne, Meredith, Me, Wynter and Jade.

As most any traveler will tell you it can be difficult to replicate foods you discovered while traveling and perogies have been a mystery. When I’ve had them in the U.S. they just haven’t been the same. 

But I found a recipe for homemade perogies here, so I jotted it down & made my very own! 

•  4 cups of flour

• 2 eggs

• ½ teaspoon salt

•  1 cup of water

• ½ cup softened

• Butter or margarine

This is just for the dough, as for the filling you can really get creative. We most commonly had them with potatoes & cheese; some also have ground beef inside.

Word to the wise: this can make several dozen perogies, so remember that as much filling as you make, you're going to have to hand roll & stuff each one until it's gone.

I made A LOT of filling and the recipe made plenty of dough. In hindsight I'd have cut the recipe in half since I'm only cooking for one. So, if you're not cooking for many you may want to consider doing this.

It can be a bit time consuming to roll the dough, fill them, boil them and eat them! So if you have helping hands that are coordinated I'd call in some back up but also keep in mind you can store them in your fridge and/or freezer to enjoy another day!

For my filling I used: 

• 2 potatoes
• A large sautéed onion
• A medium container of cottage cheese
• A large handful of shredded cheddar cheese.

It seems weird to most to mix cottage cheese in but I have quite a few Russian recipes that include it with ground beef and I’ve never had someone not like it!

You could also play around with different ingredients and flavors. You can also make dessert perogies, I don't recall ever having any in Russia but I'm all for trying them! Which I tried by mixing cream cheese & jam, but it was too runny and didn’t work, so I’ll have to attempt other dessert options next time.

I also made some that were three times a bite size so they had more room for filling and this seemed to work well for me. I also tried frying them instead of boiling them and it was equally delicious! I can see that some may prefer fried just to get more of a crunch/texture.

Once you've stuffed, boiled/fried your perogies dip them in a little sour cream & enjoy!

Took me right back to sitting around our lunch table venting, laughing & sharing stories about our lives in Russia!