by Achae

In my family we have a tradition of making pierogis. Pierogis are like ravioli in that they are filled with an assortment of foods.

First, meet the text. It is a bit old, but this is the recipe we follow!

The recipe for pierogi calls for a few basic ingredients, plus whatever you choose to use as filling. The cookbook I'm using offers great suggestions like brains and prunes. I'll stick to cherries, thanks! I'm using maraschino cherries, because they are my favorite. My second favorite is potatoes with cheese.

Start with 2 cups flour.

1/2 teaspoon salt

Two eggs.

And 1/3 Cup water.

2 tablespoons butter.

You may even have all these ingredients in your kitchen now, eh? Let's proceed.
My filling:

To begin, mix the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well and add in the egg. You will work it together with the water to make a dough.

That dough is too sticky, so I add more flour until it becomes smooth and workable. Then cover the bowl so the dough doesn't dry out. Let it sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, get a pot of water on the stove and add some salt. You will want this to come to a boil.

For my filling, I'm going to mince up the cherries. Otherwise about 2 whole ones can be added in each pierogi.

Then I set up my work station. On the left I have a bowl of water for helping the dough stick together. The center is where I will fold the pierogis. And on the right I have my minced up cherry filling.

Okay, it has been about 10 minutes, right? Let's go back to the dough. On a flat surface, sprinkle some flour so the dough will not stick.

Take half your dough, plop it down, and roll it out with a rolling pin as thin as you can get it. Make circular pieces with a cookie cutter. If you don't have one, you can use a rounded glass.

Spoon some filling on the cut-outs. The better you get at folding, the more filling you can add.

Here is the tricky part. Envelop the filling by stretching one end to the opposite end. Then pull out the sides and pinch. Do not stretch too much, or your filling will pop out! If the dough is too dry, you can dip your fingers in water to help pinch the sides shut.

I make a bunch of these and them plop them in, one by one, in the pot of boiling water. If you add them in too quickly they will stick to each other. They will boil for about 5 minutes. When they float, you know they are done!

Then I stick them in a dish and coat them in butter so they are tasty and do not stick to one another. 2 Tablespoons should do the trick for this batch.

Enjoy!