I am part Ukranian, and so warm, buttery, doughy perogies are to me a favourite comfort food, one that I have loved ever since my childhood when my mother used to make them from scratch.
There are endless variations on this dish, but the kind of perogies I make for my own family are the basic variety that are popular in Canada, stuffed with mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese, and topped with onions, sour cream, and crumbled bacon.
You can buy frozen perogies at any grocery store, but those small, tough, dry, preservative-filled dumplings are nothing like the kind you can make at home, which are large, tender, and delicious! My children especially love my homemade perogies--it's one meal I know I will be eaten up without a single complaint. I think I am going to have to start making a double recipe, because all three children ask for seconds!
If you've never made your own perogies, give it a try! It's really not difficult, and the results make such a satisfying and yummy meal on a cold winter night. As a bonus, it's a fairly inexpensive yet filling meal.
Homemade Perogies
First, make the dough. Put two cups of flour into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup mashed potato (leftover is fine), 1 tsp salt, and 1 tbsp vegetable oil. I like to make this mixture smooth with my hand blender so there are no pesky lumps of potato. Then, dump this wet mixture onto the flour and mix it up. (Note: the potato is there to make the dough more pliable.) 
Knead the dough a bit--not too much!--until you get a ball like this that holds together. It should not be sticky or floury. Add a bit of liquid or flour if you need to. I usually need to add another tablespoon or so of milk.

Let the dough rest, covered, for about half an hour. In the meantime, make the filling. Take 2 cups of hot mashed potatoes (again, leftover is fine, just warm them up) and add 1/4 cup butter and 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese. The potatoes need to be warm so the cheese will melt.
Okay, when the dough has rested roll it out, as thin as you can get it. Use a round object about 3.5 inches across to cut circles in the dough. You can use a tin can, a jar lid, or whatever you have. I used to use the cup from the top of a large thermos, but Chris recently made me this nifty perogy cutter on his lathe. It's made from a solid piece of maple. Isn't it cool?
I love things turned on the lathe, they're so smooth and pretty. :)

Okay, so once you have some circles cut out, take one and put a lump of potato filling inside. Stretch the dough a wee bit around the filling so the edges meet, and pinch them closed all the way around.

Place them on a lightly floured dishcloth for now.

Once all your perogies are done, you can leave them sitting there for a few hours if it isn't supper time, or you can cook them right away. (I assume you can freeze them too, but I haven't tried that yet.)
To cook them, just drop them into boiling water. I do half the batch at once. When they rise to the top and are all floating around (like below), they're done.
Take them out of the water with a slotted spoon and arrange on a platter, where you can smother them with melted butter. Or if you prefer, you can pan fry them to make them crispy. I like them soft personally though. Top with onions, sour cream, bacon, or whatever you like. Yum!

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