Grandma's Pierogies

I grew up eating these delicious little dough pockets every single year on Christmas Eve! They're a family staple from my dad's side. My Grandma learned how to make them from her mom (who I was lucky enough to have around for a lot longer than most people can say about their great grandparents!) This recipe has been passed down for generations from Polish roots so it's v authentic and v special to lots of people in my family. 

My Grandma's recipe makes about 30-50 pierogies depending on how big you make them and how much of the dough you repurpose as you go along. (The key to making the most out of the dough scraps is covering them so that nothing dries out!) I really love how there's milk, butter and sour cream in the dough recipe  - it makes it so much more stretchy and playable compared to a basic flour/water/egg dough mixture.

What you need:
(Dough)

• 5 cups flour
• 1/4 cup melted butter (1/2 stick)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 pint sour cream

(Potato filling)

• 5 lbs yukon gold or russet  potatoes
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 tsp salt

What to do:

• Peel the potatoes and cut them in half. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the potatoes until they are soft and can be sliced easily down the middle. (About 25 minutes - larger potatoes will take longer.)
• Combine all of the dough ingredients by hand and knead until smooth for about 15 minutes. Let the dough rest covered for 10 minutes.
• While the dough rests, mash the cream cheese and salt into the potatoes until smooth. Lumps are okay, just not huge lumps. (If your potatoes are too lumpy and you accidentally overcooked them, add a few tablespoons of milk and try mixing them in a blender or stand mixer.)
• Split the dough in half or into fourths and cover whatever portions you don't plan on immediately working with in order to prevent the extra dough from drying out.
  
• Roll the dough out until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Use a cup or a circle cookie cutter to cut out the individual pierogi wrappers. They should be around 2-3 inches in diameter.
• Important! The side of the wrapper that's underneath and touching the surface you're working on is the side you want to put 1 tbsp of potato filling onto. Since it hasn't been exposed to the air like the top side has, it will stick together better when you go to seal it.
• Since the dough is very playable, so feel free to stretch it around when you're getting ready to wrap and seal the flattened dough around the potato filling in order to not have anything bursting out the seems. You can pinch the edges to seal, or use a fork. Sometimes I like to use the end of a chopstick because I like the look and texture of it when things are more spread out.
• Melt some butter and add diced onion to a large skillet and cook on medium heat until they start to caramelize. (This will be the bath for the pierogies once they are done cooking.)
• Boil the pierogies in a large pot of salted water for about 8 minutes, they should float once they're done. 
• Transfer the peirogies to the onion and butter mixture and cook for a few minutes. If you like crispy pierogies - cook and flip them longer than a few minutes until the sides start to crisp up and brown a little bit.
• Serve with sour cream. My family loves to eat them with salt, pepper and hot sauce too!