Pierogi happen to be one of my favorite types of dumplings. Did you know, by the way, that the plural of pierogi is pierogi? It’s like fish or deer, only tastier and more fun to say.
So I can say “I ate all the pierogi last night and everyone else at the table got super mad” and you would be grammatically correct. 😉 You may very well end up being factually correct as well, since these Homemade Sweet Potato Pierogi are also filled with bacon and roasted garlic and will disappear off your dinner table in minutes !
One seriously important point though: make sure you use the right-size biscuit cutter and measuring spoon. Don’t be like me and think “Oh, my biscuit cutter is totally 3 inches,” even though it’s actually 2 1/2, and then try to cram 1 tablespoon of filling into a tiny circle of dough.
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I ended up having to re-roll a great deal of dough, so be sure to measure your cookie cutter (or drinking glass or whatever you choose to cut out circles of dough) to fit your filling. If you can avoid this little blunder of mine, then these pierogi can be whipped up one Saturday afternoon in no time and then frozen for a quick-fix meal later in the week or month.
You could also boil and inhale them straight away, but it’s always nice to be able to pull them out of the freezer on a day when you don’t feel like doing too much cooking.
Serve them as a side dish to your meal, or as the main course with some sausage and sauteed onions! They also happen to make great football food, since you can make a bunch and freeze them ahead of game day.
I’l be back on Wednesday, hopefully cold-free, with the first of many adorable Halloween recipes!
Happy Pierogi-ing!
Ingredients
For the pierogi filling:
- 2 lbs sweet potatoes
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 5 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
For the pierogi dough:
- 2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup sour cream
For serving:
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 large onion, peeled and sliced vertically
Instructions
For the filling:
- Preheat oven to 400!Fdegrees. Wrap sweet potatoes and the head of garlic in aluminum foil and place all three on a large cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft and the garlic is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven, let cool until you are able to handle them easily, then scoop the sweet potato filling into a large bowl. Remove the roasted cloves of garlic from the head and add to sweet potato. Pass this whole mixture through a ricer (or mash with a potato mashed).
- Stir in the bacon crumbles, then measure out rounded teaspoons of this filling onto a plate. (This is a super cool tip from the Kitchn that helps speed up the pierogi-making process!)
For the dough
- Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together water, egg, and sour cream. Pour this wet mixture over the flour mixture and stir with a large wooden spoon until a rough dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes by hand (or with a dough hook for 4-5 minutes). The dough should be smooth and no longer stick to your hands.
- Divide it in half and roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thick. Use a 3 inch biscuit or cookie cutter to cut out pierogi circles. Collect the scraps and re-roll to form more circles. Repeat with the other half of dough until all the pierogi circles are cut out.
To Assemble
- Place a pierogi circle in the palm of your hand, place one of the teaspoons of sweet potato mixture in the center, then pinch the two farthest sides of the circle together with your fingers. Continue pinching around the outside the circle with your fingers until you completely seal the pierogi, forming a half circle. Repeat with the rest of the pierogi and place on a lightly floured cookie sheet.
- Once all pierogi are formed, either freeze until firm (then you can transfer them to a freezer-safe plastic bag) or proceed straight to boiling.
On the day of
- Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. While water heats up, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden brown, stirring occassionally, about 10 minutes.
- Once water is boiling, drop in as many pierogi as can comfortably fit (don't crowd the pot!) and boil for 8-10 minutes. They should rise to the top, then boil for a minute or so more. Remove pierogi from the boiling water, and add directly to the skillet. Let them brown for a few minutes without moving them, then remove from the pan. Repeat until all pierogi are cooked.
