Pierogies with Strawberries - Vareniki

This is a familiar dish to most people, as pierogies are becoming a favored food in multicultural cuisines. You can find the cheddar cheese and potato version in the frozen boxed-meals section in practically any grocery store today.

The version of pierogies I’m posting today appears to be on the dessert side of food, but like with crepes, pierogies have endless filling variations. They may be a salty dish, with meat or vegetables, or a sweet dish with fruit or curd cheese. On either end of the spectrum, pierogies have always been served as the main course, regardless of the filling.

This staple food holds a great sentimental value in the common Slavic culture. Strawberry Pierogies often fills folks with nostalgia, tender memories and feelings of their childhood and upbringing. In my personal experience, it represented a special treat – a blessed time – when my mom made this meal for us.

It meant an abundance in crop, happy summer days, or simply just mom wanting to treat her children to a delicious treat. One that not a single child (in a large family) would refuse or leave leftovers. They can be made year round, and to me, they simply represent love, happiness and family unity. It's tradition!

My mom had a certain way

... of making them. It’s not very easy to pull off the task in order for them to turn out as plump and fluffy as my moms. Simple errors and overcooking quickly result in a thin, translucent layer of dough that easily tears. Mom’s pierogies had a thick, generous bread-like spongy layer over a delicious filling inside.

They were the ultimate success to mastering the trick to get that perfect, spongy result. Fantastically fluffy, soft, and absolutely satisfying and filling. That's is why they are made as a single main course because after three or four of them you're full. But really, who can stop at just four?

They make for an unbelievably tasty meal with meat or veggie filling as well, but Pierogies with Strawberries is a kids’ favorite way to eat them. It’s a very special recipe to me, so I really hope you enjoy it as I do. Or if you already love pierogies but feel like you don't quite have the right touch down in order to get them soft and fluffy, don’t give up before you give this recipe a try.

My mom always made the dough by hand, which is harder but possible. However, today we have the added blessing in the wonderful KitchenAid mixer to do the heavy lifting of kneading for you. So it makes this dish that much easier for even a novice to tackle perfectly. Try it for yourself. I'd love to hear about your own cooking experience and family memories this dish brings to you as well.

Ingredients:

2 cups (475 ml) – whey
1 large – eggs
5 cups (625 g) – all-purpose flour (sifted)
1 tbsp. (15 ml) – baking soda
¼ tsp. (1.25 ml) – salt

Instructions:

2 lbs. - (900 g) - strawberries
Rinse strawberries, cut out the cores and dice them into small pieces. (My 11-year-old, Ella, picked these from the garden and placed a little strawberry flower on them and said, “Mom, include the flower in the picture for cuteness.” How adorable is that? 🙂 And a good idea for display.) Refrigerate diced strawberries until ready. (If they sit on the counter too long, once cut, they start to decay in room temperature.)

Dough Instructions:

I use this dough recipe for both Vareniki (Pierogies), with many filling variations, and for Pelmeni (Meat Dumplings).

1. Prepare the dry ingredients first. Sift flour into a medium bowl. Add baking soda and salt. Combine dry ingredients and set aside until ready for use.

2. Pour whey into the electric mixer bowl, then add egg. Mix on medium speed for a minute or until well blended.

3. Add half of the dry ingredients into the whey mixture and mix with the dough hook attachment on the lowest speed. Add the rest of the flour mixture ½ cup at a time, afterward. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula occasionally to mix in all the flour. (Failing to do this step leaves out some measured out and necessary ingredients, and so changes the consistency of the dough. After all the flour mixture is incorporated, the dough shouldn't be as wet and sticky.)

After all of the ingredients are well combined, continue mixing the dough for a couple of minutes to knead out any clumps. Now the dough is ready for multiple uses. It’s really as simple as that!

Cutting out the Dough for Vareniki:

1. Remove the dough from the bowl with a spatula. (It's easier than using unfloured hand, which the dough would stick to.) Place dough onto a lightly floured working space. Shape the dough into a log. Cut it in half and then each piece in half again (so you have 4 equal size chunks).

2. Place three of the chunks back into the bowl until ready for use, and cover with plastic food wrap (to prevent from drying and crusting). Work with one chunk of dough at a time. Roll it out into a fairly thin and long log (about 1” in diameter). Then slice the log 1” apart (to give you 1” in height and 1” in width dough pieces). Many cooks will roll out a large thin circle and press out circular pieces with a round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass.

I found this way to be more straining and time consuming, as it requires more rolling. In this approach, you would need to knead the leftover dough back into a sphere, roll out another flat circle, and then press out more small circles, and repeat these steps until you’ve run out of dough. But more crucially, this process requires more flour for kneading and rolling. As a result, your dough becomes more compacted and dense, which makes it tough and rubbery once cooked. I found that after several kneading/rolling cycles the dough was not as soft anymore; it becomes tougher and loses elasticity.

My mom preferred to use the approach in this post, and I absolutely loved how much quicker it was to section out and roll each varenik portion individually. Especially if you have a partner helping you. One person may roll out the portions while the other makes the vareniki. A cooking buddy will help you slash the prep time quite a bit.

3. Dip each sticky side of the dough portion into flour. Flatten it down with your hand and roll it out with a roller. I make the portion disks more of an oval shape. I find it easier to form and pinch vareniki dough together when you have a little more dough to work with. Plus it makes the completed varenik look more round than long.

4. Place strawberry filling on the dough disk, fold together the flaps, and pinch the edges together from one end to the other to make a tight zigzag. Turn the varenik over in your hand and repeat the pinching and shaping step. Repeat all of the above steps with the remaining dough.

Cooking Instructions:
1. Bring water to a boil. Reduce to a gentle boil - on medium setting. Add vareniki into the boiling water. Cook for 3 minutes, turning them over every 30 seconds or so. Not turning them over will allow too much exposure to air and cooler temperature and cause tearing or uneven cooking.

This step is important to achieve the desired plump and fluffy results you want. (Also, don’t cook too many vareniki at once because it will take you a bit more time to take them all out, and the last ones out will overcook.)

2. Remove vareniki from the water and into a bowl with a lid. Sprinkle with sugar. Cover with lid and swoosh the sugared vareniki around in the bowl to glaze them so that they won’t stick to each other once cooled.

Serve warm with a cup of cold milk. Yum, yum! Enjoy!

Perogies with Strawberries - Vareniki

Valya's Taste of Home

4.25 from 4 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 45 mins

Cook Time 12 mins

Total Time 57 mins

Course Lunch, Main Dish

Servings 10

Ingredients

  

.5x1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 cups 475 ml – whey
• ▢ 1 large – eggs
• ▢ 5 cups 625 g – all-purpose flour (sifted)
• ▢ 1 tbsp. 15 ml – baking soda
• ▢ ¼ tsp. 1.25 ml – salt
• ▢ 2 lbs. - 900 g - strawberries

Read More

Instructions

 

• ▢
  Rinse strawberries, cut out the cores and dice them into small pieces. (My 11-year-old, Ella, picked these from the garden and placed a little strawberry flower on them and said, “Mom, include the flower in the picture for cuteness.” How adorable is that? 🙂 And a good idea for display.) Refrigerate diced strawberries until ready. (If they sit on the counter too long, once cut, they start to decay in room temperature.)
• ▢
  Dough Instructions:
• ▢
  I use this dough recipe for both Vareniki (Pierogies), with many filling variations, and for Pelmeni (Meat Dumplings).
• ▢
  Prepare the dry ingredients first. Sift flour into a medium bowl. Add baking soda and salt. Combine dry ingredients and set aside until ready for use.
• ▢
  Pour whey into the electric mixer bowl, then add egg. Mix on medium speed for a minute or until well blended.
• ▢
  Add half of the dry ingredients into the whey mixture and mix with the dough hook attachment on the lowest speed. Add the rest of the flour mixture ½ cup at a time, afterward. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula occasionally to mix in all the flour. (Failing to do this step leaves out some measured out and necessary ingredients, and so changes the consistency of the dough. After all the flour mixture is incorporated, the dough shouldn't be as wet and sticky.) After all of the ingredients are well combined, continue mixing the dough for a couple of minutes to knead out any clumps. Now the dough is ready for multiple uses. It’s really as simple as that!
• ▢
  Cutting out the Dough for Vareniki:
• ▢
  Remove the dough from the bowl with a spatula. (It's easier than using unfloured hand, which the dough would stick to.) Place dough onto a lightly floured working space. Shape the dough into a log. Cut it in half and then each piece in half again (so you have 4 equal size chunks).
• ▢
  Place three of the chunks back into the bowl until ready for use, and cover with plastic food wrap (to prevent from drying and crusting). Work with one chunk of dough at a time. Roll it out into a fairly thin and long log (about 1” in diameter). Then slice the log 1” apart (to give you 1” in height and 1” in width dough pieces). Many cooks will roll out a large thin circle and press out circular pieces with a round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass. I found this way to be more straining and time consuming, as it requires more rolling. In this approach, you would need to knead the leftover dough back into a sphere, roll out another flat circle, and then press out more small circles, and repeat these steps until you’ve run out of dough. But more crucially, this process requires more flour for kneading and rolling. As a result, your dough becomes more compacted and dense, which makes it tough and rubbery once cooked. I found that after several kneading/rolling cycles the dough was not as soft anymore; it becomes tougher and loses elasticity. My mom preferred to use the approach in this post, and I absolutely loved how much quicker it was to section out and roll each varenik portion individually. Especially if you have a partner helping you. One person may roll out the portions while the other makes the vareniki. A cooking buddy will help you slash the prep time quite a bit.
• ▢
  Dip each sticky side of the dough portion into flour. Flatten it down with your hand and roll it out with a roller. I make the portion disks more of an oval shape. I find it easier to form and pinch vareniki dough together when you have a little more dough to work with. Plus it makes the completed varenik look more round than long.
• ▢
  Place strawberry filling on the dough disk, fold together the flaps, and pinch the edges together from one end to the other to make a tight zigzag. Turn the varenik over in your hand and repeat the pinching and shaping step. Repeat all of the above steps with the remaining dough.
• ▢
  Cooking Instructions:
• ▢
  Bring water to a boil. Reduce to a gentle boil - on medium setting. Add vareniki into the boiling water. Cook for 3 minutes, turning them over every 30 seconds or so. Not turning them over will allow too much exposure to air and cooler temperature and cause tearing or uneven cooking. This step is important to achieve the desired plump and fluffy results you want. (Also, don’t cook too many vareniki at once because it will take you a bit more time to take them all out, and the last ones out will overcook.)
• ▢
  Remove vareniki from the water and into a bowl with a lid. Sprinkle with sugar. Cover with lid and swoosh the sugared vareniki around in the bowl to glaze them so that they won’t stick to each other once cooled.
• ▢
  Serve warm with a cup of cold milk. Yum, yum! Enjoy!

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