Quadruple Bacon Pierogies

If my Vintage Peanut Butter Cookies are a bit too weird for you, try these pierogies. They are saturated in bacon, but I think these are more picky eater friendly than the cookies.

First, buy some good quality bacon. I get mine from the Glebe Meat Market; it is naturally smoked and doesn't have nitrates. It also releases loads of delicious fat as it cooks, not salty water like some super market brands.

Second, make sure to eat these with some good German beer. Bitburger and Erdinger are flavourful but easy going; they are neither overwhelmed nor overwhelming when served with the pierogies.

For more about pierogies and to see the recipe I based mine on, head on over to the Daring Cooks kitchen!

photos by Tannis Price (who is super cool)

 Quadruple Bacon Pierogies
makes 4 hefty servings

Filling
400 g sweet potato (2 big ones)
125 g cream cheese, room temperature (1/2 cup)
4 pieces of bacon, chopped
1 onion, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
 a few grinds of pepper


1 Bring a large pot of water to a boil, peel and dice the sweet potatoes and cook until tender
2 While the potatoes cook, fry the bacon until done to your liking, remove from the pan and drain most of the fat, then fry the onion until well browned in the bacon fat
3 Mash the sweet potatoes and cream cheese in a large bowl until super smooth, stir in the bacon, onions and seasonings. Taste the mixture and add more seasoning as you please.

Dough
200 g white flour (1 1/2 cups)
200 g whole wheat pastry flour (1 1/2 cups)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp melted bacon fat
extra flour for dusting

1 Combine the flours and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre
2 Crack the egg into the well, add the warm water and bacon fat and stir everything with a wooden spoon, incorporating the flour into the liquids
3 Remove the dough from the bowl, it should be very soft but not quite sticky. Add more flour or water as necessary
4 Knead the dough for a good five minutes, then return it to the bowl and let it rest with a towel on top for 20 minutes

Assembly
1 Roll the dough out on a WELL FLOURED counter, it should be a couple millimeters thick
2 Using a cookie cutter or the top of a glass, cut 3 inch circles for smaller pierogies or a 5 inch circle for jumbo one. Collect and re-roll any scraps
3 Make sure you can lift up the circles, if they stick to the counter after you put the filling on top... it's a pain to say the least. Brush the tops of the circles with a bit of water, this will help them seal
4 Place a hefty teaspoon of filling on each circle, fold the circle over the filling and pinch closed by hand or use a fork to press the edges together. Make sure no filling is leaking out or they will fall apart when you cook them
5 You can cook them now, keep them covered in the fridge until you need them for a day, or stick them in the freezer
6 Bring a large pot of water to a boil, cook the pierogies a few at a time until they are floating at the top. Depending on the thickness of your dough, the timing can vary, cut one up to test if they are ready!
7 While the pierogies cook, fry some chopped bacon in a large pan until done to your liking. Remove the bacon from the pan when it's done, but keep most of the fat to fry the pierogies. You'll want at least 2-4 tbsp for each batch.
8 When all the pierogies are boiled, heat the bacon fat over medium high heat and fry the pierogies in batches until crispy and delicious. Keep the finished ones warm in the oven while you cook the rest
9 To serve, put a few pierogies on each plate, top with the cooked bacon and make sure you provide sour cream to dip them in

This is a pretty long list of instructions... but it's worth it. Homemade dough to store bought dough is as  feather pillow to brick. It is far more flavourful and even has whole wheat flour in it; of course you can use all white flour if you please.

I know these pierogies may not exactly find their way into a Weight Watcher's cookbook, but there is a time and place for uberhealthy cooking, and that is not in frigid February when you have friends over for a movie night. Besides, I've been doing a lot of research into animal fats lately, thanks to Fat, my newest cookbook. Now, I don't believe everything I read, but it definitely made me do some of my own research and I've concluded that everything in moderation is probably the safest approach until these dietitians reach a consensus.