(Scary) Pizza Pierogi

Who remembers Pizza Rolls? Those fabulous mini pizza pockets that squirted piping hot cheese and burned the roof of your mouth when you bit into them? Oh yeah, they were the best.

My Pizza Pierogi is inspired by this childhood favorite. It’s a bite size finger food that is kid and adult friendly. And since it is October and everything needs to be either pumpkin flavored or Halloween themed, I decided to make them scary. But you can give them any face you like – funny, cute, etc.  Or you can keep them traditional. I’ll show both ways below.

RECIPE: Pizza Pierogi

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 2 cups flour

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup warm water

• 2 table spoons sour cream (or Greek yogurt)

• 1.5 tablespoon Italian seasoning (I prefer the salt-free)

• Softened Butter

• Salt

For the Filling (your choice – here are some recommendations)

• Pizza sauce (homemade or store bought)

• Shredded cheese (I recommend a blend of mozzarella, parmesan and provolone)

• Pepperoni

• Olives

• Peppers

• Jalapeños

• Basil

• Onion

• Mushrooms

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To Do:

Dough:

Mix flour, egg, sour cream, water, Italian spice and salt in a large bowl or your kitchen counter. Knead until it forms a dough ball adding more water (if too dry) or more flour (if too wet) as you go. Cover the dough with the bowl and let rest for about 15 minutes.

Using a pasta roller, start with a #8 and fold the dough through 4 or 5 times. Switch to a #7 and fold through 2 times. (If you don’t have a pasta roller, a rolling pin will work.) Continue this process until the dough is thin enough (about an 1/8 of an inch). We recommend stopping once you get to the #3 or #4 setting.  

Some people like doughy pierogi, I prefer mine to be thinner. However, the thinner the dough the more likely it is to tear as you work with it. Play around until you find your perfect dough thickness.

Filling

While dough is resting, prepare the filling – chop up the meat and veggies.

Assemble

You have two options here: 1) keep it traditional and make the typical half moon shaped pierogi; or 2) get a little crazy and make little pierogi monsters. I’ll go through both below:

1)   Traditional shape: Use a circle cookie cutter or glass cup to cut out 2-3 inch rounds. Put circle of dough into pierogi crimper and fill with about 1 tsp. of pizza sauce, cheese, and your choice of pizza ‘toppings’ (be careful not to overfill or it will seep out the edges and you won’t get a good seal). Wet one side of pierogi with water before pinching shut. Trim excess edges if needed.

2)   Little Pierogi Monsters: Cut your dough into squares, about 4 inches by 4 inches. Put the square of dough into pierogi crimper (dough will hang over the edges) and fill with pizza sauce, cheese, and your choice of pizza ‘toppings.’ Be careful not to overfill or it will seep out the edges and you won’t get a good seal. Wet one side of pierogi with water before pinching shut. Take pierogi our of crimper and use either kitchen sheers or a sharp knife to cut excess dough into monster shape. Be sure to not cut too close into crimped edge (the pierogi must still seal shut). See the below video for a demo.

Cook

Place pierogi in boiling water. Once they rise to the top continue to cook for 2-3 minutes and then remove with slotted spoon. Gently dry off the pierogi and sauté in pan with butter. Once cooked, use extra toppings (olives, peppers, pepperoni, etc) to make fun faces on the pierogi, Serve warm with extra pizza sauce for dipping. Enjoy.