Pierogies My Way

Dough-

Beat together 6 large eggs in heavy mixer until lemon yellow colored. Add 2 teaspoons salt, oil, and milk on low speed until well combined. Adding 1 to 1/2 cup at a time, add a total of 4 1/2 cups of flour. The dough will be VERY sticky. Generously flour counter top (and remove rings from fingers!) and turn out dough. Knead lightly, adding up to 1 1/2 cups of additional flour as you go. Dough should be moist, but not sticky. (It will not hold it’s shape like traditional bread dough does.) Let dough stand at room temperature in a greased bowl for 2 to 3 hours. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling dough to form the dumplings. Make the meat filling while dough is resting.

Filling-

Combine in large bowl, ground meat, finely chopped onion, crushed garlic, salt, black pepper, cumin, allspice, and the 2 remaining eggs. You will end up with a meatloaf looking mixture. In large saucepan, fry (without additional oil) the meat mixture until lightly browned and fairly dry. Stir constantly – you want this mixture to be free of chunks and fairly loose. Refrigerate meat filling until at least room temperature. You want to be able to handle the meat without burning yourself.

Filling the Pierogies-

(The best approach is to cut a few rounds of dough, fill them and set aside on waxed paper… repeat until all meat filling is used. This is messy and time consuming but so very worth it. You will probably have some left over dough.)

Roll dough onto a well floured surface until 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into 3″ rounds. (I use an inverted coffee cup.) Here’s where it gets messy. Using approximately 1 rounded teaspoon of meat filling, which you have sqeezed together in a ball shape, place on 1/2 of a dough round that has been lightly dusted with flour if it is too sticky to handle. Fold the other half of the dough circle over the top of the meat filling to meet the other side, trying not to stretch the dough too much. Crimp edges of dumpling with fork tines as if you were finishing a pie crust. You should end up with a half moon shaped stuffed dumpling with no breaks along the opened edge.

Feel free to freeze the dumplings at this time if you choose. Make sure they are separated by layers of waxed paper. They will keep in an airtight container for up to three months.

Cooking-

Cook dumplings (a few at a time) in simmering water for 6 minutes. Scoop dumplings out, allow excess water to drain, and fry in butter until lightly browned and crispy on both sides.

Serve immediately with mounds of sauteed onions, and sour cream with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper.