Sweet Cheese Dumplings with Sour Cream and Berries
Inspired by techniques from Serious Eats and King Arthur Baking.
This follows the classic potato-cheese pierogi method for the dough, shaping and boiling, but the filling is smooth sweetened farmer's cheese with vanilla and lemon, bound with egg yolk and heated to 71°C in the boil. They are served with melted butter, icing sugar, sour cream and fresh berries instead of onions and chives.
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Method
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Equipment
- large bowl
- medium bowl
- fine sieve or potato ricer
- rolling pin
- 7.5 cm round cutter or a glass
- large wide pan or stockpot
- slotted spoon or spider
- 2 trays and a clean tea towel
- instant-read probe thermometer
- pastry brush
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 705 kcal |
| Protein | 24.6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 80.9 g |
| of which sugars | 20.1 g |
| of which free sugars | 12.1 g |
| Fat | 31.3 g |
| of which saturates | 16.1 g |
| Fibre | 3.4 g |
| Salt | 1.72 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
3.5 g High Protein needs ≥ 10 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
Metric · 4 servings
Dough
- 300 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 3 g fine sea salt or table salt about ½ tsp
- 1 large egg
- 150 g full-fat sour cream
- 30 g unsalted butter, very soft
- 2 tbsp cold water (up to 4 tbsp if needed)
Filling
- 450 g farmer's cheese (twaróg) or well-drained cottage cheese
- 40 g caster sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
To serve
- 20 g unsalted butter, melted
- 120 g full-fat sour cream
- 12 g icing sugar, for dusting about 1 tbsp
- 150 g mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries)
- 1
Make the dough. This sweet version uses the same dough, shaping and boiling as the classic potato-cheese pierogi. Whisk the flour and dough salt in the large bowl, mix in the egg with a fork until clumpy, then work in the sour cream and soft butter with your fingertips to a rough, slightly sticky ball, adding water 1 tbsp at a time only if dry flour remains. Knead for 3-4 min on a lightly floured surface until smooth, then wrap and rest for 30 min at room temperature (or up to 24 h in the fridge, with 20 min back at room temperature before rolling). The rest lets the gluten relax so the dough rolls thinly.
- 2
Prepare the cheese. If using cottage cheese, drain it in the sieve for 20 min and press out the liquid. Push the cheese through the sieve or ricer into the medium bowl until smooth and lump-free. Excess moisture would make the filling runny and weaken the seal.
- 3
Sweeten the filling. Beat in the sugar, egg yolk, vanilla and lemon zest until the mixture is thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon. Cover and chill until needed, up to 24 h; cold filling is firmer and easier to wrap.
- 4
Shape the pierogi. Halve the dough, keeping one half wrapped, and roll the other on a lightly floured surface to 2 mm thick. Cut 7.5 cm rounds, add a level tablespoon (about 13 g) of filling to each, fold into a half-moon and pinch firmly from end to end, pressing out any air; crimp with a fork if you like. Set on a floured tray under a tea towel, reroll the scraps once after a 5 min rest and repeat with the second half to make about 40, using up all the filling.
- 5
Boil and check. Bring a large pan of unsalted water to a rolling boil, lower in 10-12 pierogi at a time and stir gently once. When they float, cook for 3 min more so the filling, which contains raw egg yolk, heats right through. Cut one open and check with the probe that the filling reads 71°C before lifting the batch out.
- 6
Butter and serve. Lift the pierogi with the slotted spoon onto a tray brushed with some of the melted butter, which stops them sticking together. Brush the hot pierogi with the rest of the butter, dust with icing sugar and serve about 10 per person with sour cream and berries.
Storage
Cool within 2 hours, refrigerate for up to 3 days and reheat by pan-frying in a little butter until piping hot (74°C). Freeze uncooked pierogi on a tray, then bag, for up to 3 months; boil from frozen, adding 2-3 min and checking the filling reaches 71°C.
