Ever since I went gluten free, I’ve been cheating when it comes to pierogies. I’ve never been much of a baker- I’ve always been a cook.  Cooking is always so much safer- you don’t really have to measure things once you get the hang of how much a teaspoon looks like where baking is much more of a science.  1/2 teaspoon of salt?  You better make sure you add exactly that or the whole recipe is ruined.  I’m a make a cake out of the box kind of person.  In my mind, I really just can’t mess up cooking where baking is so easy to screw up.

ANYway, I always felt like pierogies were cutting it a little too close to baking.  Flour?  Salt?  Yeah- sounds like baking to me.  I will say- be prepared if you’re going to try this recipe.  Have one or two more people helping you out- get a production line going.  This might be fun to get your kids or your significant other involved with on a rainy day.  Make them in BULK and then definitely freeze half so you don’t have to go through the whole process again.  If you don’t mind that kind of thing, then ignore everything I’ve said.

I based my recipe off this one, with some slight changes.

Gluten Free Pierogies

Ingredients:

for the dough:

• 1/2 cup yogurt, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup Almond milk, at room temperature
• 1 egg, at room temperature, beaten
• 18 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour (I use Bob’s)

for the filling:

• 1 pound potatoes
• 1 small onion, peeled and diced
• 2 tablespoons butter or ghee
• 1/2 cup yogurt, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used Monterey jack and a cheddar blend)
• salt and pepper, to taste

for painting:

• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons ghee or butter

Directions:

• Before you do anything, you want to make that filling.  Bring a large pot of water to a roiling boil, add the potatoes and then reduce to a simmer.  Cook those potatoes, covered, until they are fork tender- about 15 minutes.  Drain the water from the pot and cover with a towel- this will allow the potatoes to sweat off that skin.  Let sit for about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium-high heat and melt that butter.  Add the onions and sauté until translucent.
• Once the potatoes have sweat and are softened, peel the skin off and mash the potatoes in the pot.  Add the cooked onions, yogurt, shredded cheese and salt and pepper to your liking.  Stir until combined.  Set aside.
• Next, you want to make that dough.  In a large bowl (or your stand mixer), place the yogurt, milk, beaten egg and salt.  Whisk to combine.  Add the flour in at least three parts, mixing well to combine after each addition.  The dough should come together pretty smoothly, but still sticky.  Put the dough on a lightly flour surface, flour your hands up and knead the dough until it becomes easier to handle.  Cover loosely and set aside to rest.
• Once it has rested 20ish minutes, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a round, about 1/4 inch thick circle.  Cut out rounds about 4 inches in diameter.  Gather, reroll the scraps, roll it out and keep cutting until you get to the end.  Roll out each of the small rolls until they are about 1/8th on an inch thick.
• Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Paint the edges of each small circle of dough with the beaten egg, place about 1 tablespoon full of filling in the center of each, then fold over, match the edges and pinch closed.  Once finished, drop into the boiling water.  Place about 6 at a time, or more if your pot can handle it.  Once the pierogies are floating, they’re done cooking.  It takes about 3 minutes- it’s fast, so keep watch!  Place the boiled pierogies on a paper towl to drain, then blot them dry.  (See what I mean about a production line??  It goes much faster if you have 2 people making pierogies, one person watching them boil and taking them out.)
• Melt butter in a hot skillet, add the boiled pierogies and brown on both sides.  Serve with your favorite sides, and enjoy!