Vareniki with Potatoes and Cheese

This is a classic Russian recipe; well-loved by people of all ages. Cheesy potatoes are just one of the many fillings used to make traditional Russian Vareniky (pierogies). My husband loves these best sautéed and drizzled with bacon and onion flavored butter. Serve with a generous dollop of sour cream. If you have a unique filling that you make, please share!

For the dough: use the new vareniki (pierogi) dough recipe I posted earlier with exact measurements. You can totally cut the dough and potato recipe in half to make a more reasonable amount (about 60-75 by using half the recipe). It’s alot more with the full recipe but they freeze really well.

Tip for Success: Potatoes for vareniki aren’t supposed to be your regular mashed potatoes. If they were that creamy, they’d fall apart while cooking.

Ingredients for Potato Filling (This fills 140-ish pierogis):

• 10 medium potatoes
• 3/4 Tbsp salt for cooking potatoes
• 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, finely grated
• 1/2 package (4 oz) of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3 Tbsp butter, melted

Ingredients for Zazharka:

• 1/2 package of bacon (6 oz), chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 2-3 Tbsp butter (depending on how many vareniki you’ve made).

How to Make Cheesy Potato Filling:

1. Peel and chop potatoes into 1/2-inch slices.
2. Place potatoes in a medium pot and fill with enough water to almost cover potatoes and 3/4 Tbsp salt.
3. Bring potatoes to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.
4. Drain potatoes and remove from heat. Let potatoes cool for 5 minutes, then mash and stir in 3 Tbsp melted butter. Mix in the cream cheese and mozzarella cheese. Mixing potatoes with the paddle attachment in an electric standing mixer makes it easy.
Vareniki with Potatoes and CheeseOnce your dough is ready, divide it into 4 equal portions and roll each portion out until it is 1/8″ thick over a lightly floured non-stick surface.  Cut circles out of the dough (I used the tops from my jars to cut the circles out and it worked well. The mini-scoop from OXO also made it really easy to add the potato filling (perfect 1 tsp every time!).
Vareniki with Potatoes and CheeseVareniki with Potatoes and CheeseVareniki with Potatoes and Cheese.
5. Bring a large pot of water to boil with 1 Tbsp salt. Add dumplings and cook until they float to the top and an additional couple minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom. Remove with a slotted spoon. The full recipe makes about 4 batches so cook each batch separately in the same water.
Note: You can freeze leftover uncooked pierogies by putting the on a flour-dusted cutting board and put them in the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can place them in a large zip-loc bag. Pre-freezing them like this keeps them from sticking together in the freezer.
6. To make “zazharka,” saute bacon until it releases its fat, add onion and saute until golden. Add butter and stir until melted. Drizzle over finished vareniki and toss to combine.

Source:

http://natashaskitchen.com/2010/10/31/vareniki-with-potatoes-and-cheese/