Loaded Potato Pierogi

I have a confession. I am a carboholic. If they had a 12-step program for people addicted to carbohydrates, I  would definitely benefit (not that I would participate- I'd run in the opposite direction and hide. Denial is my friend.) I love bread..and pasta..and potatoes..and any combination thereof! Naturally, when I discovered Pierogi, I was in a carboholic's heaven! These little polish dumplings have become one of my comfort foods- when I'm sick (like right now) and nothing sounds appetizing, pierogi somehow seem palatable. For those of you who aren't familiar with pierogi, they are little dumplings made of pasta and filled with a creamy potato filling along with any combination of savory fillings. Cheese. Onions. Cheese and Onions. Sauerkraut. Broccoli and Cheese. You catch my drift..just about anything you can combine with cheese and potatoes can go inside a pierogi.

Until recently, I've relied on Mrs. T's frozen Pierogies when I had the urge to overdose on carbs. I never considered making them myself- I've always been a little afraid of any kind of dough. Well, when I first started  reading food blogs on a regular basis, I discovered a post on Brown Eyed Baker about making your own pierogi. This recipe immediately went on  my "to-make" list. The opportunity came my way a few weeks ago to make an attempt of my own, and they turned out way better than I expected! I cheated a little, and used a mashed potato mix instead of whole potatoes (like I've said before..I improvise, and try to cook with what I have on hand). I don't think you could tell at all that the potatoes weren't boiled and mashed here in my kitchen! I was super surprised at how easy these were to put together...part of my fear of dough has been the misconception that dough = complicated. I've tried several recipes lately that are finally clearing my mind of that dirty little thought!

Try these...you'll be amazed at how easy, and yummy, and satisfying they are!

Printable Recipe

Pierogi adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Makes 24-30 large Pierogi

2 cups flour, plus more for rolling dough
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter, softened and cut into small pieces

Filling of your choice- Loaded Potato Filling recipe below
Butter for sauteing
Onions and peppers for sauteing, if desired

Make the Dough.
Mix together flour and salt in medium bowl. Beat the egg in a small bowl, and add flour mixture. Add butter and sour cream and mix well until the dough is no longer sticky. I mixed this by hand with no problem- you can use an electric mixer with a dough hook if you'd like, but be careful not to over mix.  Form a ball with the dough, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes- overnight is fine too. The dough can be refrigerated for a maximum of 2 days.

Make the Filling.

Loaded Potato Filling chez Moi


1 4 oz package Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes
2 cups cold water
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Prepare potatoes using 2 cups cold water as directed.  Remove from microwave, and stir until creamy. Stir in bacon and cheese, and season with salt and pepper as desired. Set aside half of the potatoes to use as a side dish later in the week!

Assemble Pierogi.
Lightly flour your work surface, and roll out dough until 1/16" thick. Cut circles of dough using a circle cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or drinking glass. I used a drinking glass, and it gave me good sized pierogi. Place a tablespoon of filling (or less, depending on the size of your dough circles) on each circle, and fold dough over to create a semi-circle. Press edges of dough together using a fork, and a bit of water if the edges won't stick.

Pierogi waiting to be boiled

Prepare Pierogi.
Boil a large pot of water. When at a full boil, drop in a handful of pierogi at a time. Boil for 7-8 minutes, remove from water and pat dry. Repeat with desired amount of pierogi. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions and peppers if desired. Add pierogi in a single layer, and turn when nicely browned and crispy.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Snickers Cake

Let me just start this post by saying that I'm head over heels in love. I'm in love...with this cake. I'm in love with the moist chocolate cake, with the creamy salted caramel buttercream, and the homemade sea salt caramel that's on top. None of these recipes are new to me, I've made and posted about them before..however, I did make a few small changes that I think made all the difference in the world. In fact, I think these changes elevated this cake from good to AMAZING. The Snickers Cupcakes I made for a bake sale at work a few weeks ago went over so well, that I thought I'd try to convert the cupcakes into a cake. I did, and it worked beautifully. Three days after it was decorated, it is still incredibly moist and perfect. This is a rich cake- definitely not low cal- but in my opinion, I'd rather eat cardboard than low-cal dessert!


The chocolate cake recipe I found on The Novice Chef Blog when I made the Snickers Cupcakes. The only adaptation I made was to use freshly brewed hot coffee instead of boiling water. I am not a coffee drinker, but I love what coffee does to the taste of chocolate when it's used in cake batter. There isn't the slightest bit of a coffee flavor to this cake- it just makes the cake super, super moist!


Printable Recipe: Snickers Cake

Chocolate Cake adapted from Hersheys.com 


2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare (2) 9 inch round baking pans with nonstick spray and circles of parchment paper cut to the size of the pan.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl, and stir with wire whisk until combined.  Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla and beat with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in hot coffee until combined- batter will be runny.

Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool pans on wire rack for 10 minutes.

If you're going to frost the cake right away, turn cakes out of pans onto wire rack and cool completely.
If not, place the pans in the freezer for 20 minutes, then turn cakes out onto plastic wrap, and wrap each layer in 3 layers of wrap. Freeze until ready to assemble cake.

Sea Salt Caramel from Doughmesstic
* I doubled this recipe for the cake- and for some reason it didn't work as well as when I've made it as follows. However, the caramel tasted great- it was just thinner than normal, which worked to my advantage here!*


1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream

Combine cream and salt in a small saucepan and heat over low until salt is dissolved. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, add sugar and corn syrup. They will not combine well until the sugar starts to melt.
If you have a candy thermometer, cook over high until mixture reaches 350 degrees. If your child thinks the thermometer is a toy (like mine does), cook until the mixture is a light amber color. Remove from heat- the mixture will continue cooking, and the color will darken to a nice caramel color. ( I cooked it to the caramel color the first time, and while it looked great, the caramel had a very bitter taste..I burnt it. Thanks to Susan @doughmesstic for your help!)

Stir in the cream mixture and vanilla, then whisk in sour cream. Let the caramel cool to room temperature, and transfer to an airtight container to refrigerate.


Salted Caramel Buttercream


3 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sea salt caramel
2 lbs powdered sugar


Cream butter in a large bowl with electric mixer. Stir in caramel until combined. Add sugar in small batches, mixing on medium speed with electric mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. If thicker consistency is desired, add more sugar. At this point, my buttercream was creamy and perfect for spreading. I added a bit of sugar to the icing I had left over to get a good piping consistency.


To assemble cake:


Unwrap one frozen layer of cake, and place on cake board. Level with a serrated knife if necessary. I brush a little of my lovely sugar water (great tip from Bakerella) on top to keep the cake super moist. Spread a generous layer of buttercream on top. I chopped up a snickers and sprinkled it on top of the buttercream, and added a drizzle of caramel.


Top with second layer (trimmed and leveled if necessary), brush with sugar water if desired and apply a light layer of buttercream as a crumb coat to trap any loose crumbs. Place cake in freezer for 15-20 minutes to set crumb coat- it's ready when you can touch the frosting and not have any stick to your finger.


Spread a generous layer of buttercream of top and sides of cake. Pipe on top if desired, and if you're feeling super adventurous, flood the top with caramel before sprinkling on chopped snickers.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Cream Puffs

Cream Puffs have been a family favorite for as long as I can remember. From Grammy Grace's cream puff recipe, to the giant cream puffs at Schmidt's Sausage Haus und Restaurant (one of my favorite restaurants ever!), I don't know of anyone in my family who would turn down a cream puff! In fact, when we make trips home to Columbus, if we don't eat at Schmidt's someone at least makes a trip to get Cream Puffs.

I was in the mood to make something a little different the other day, and turned to Tastespotting to get some ideas. Somehow I ended up drooling over cream puffs- so I decided that's what I would make. My previous attempts at cream puffs always turned out ok- the pastry was fine, but I never made a custard filling (I know..lazy foodie!) I always resorted to whipped cream or ice cream. This time I decided I wanted to go all out and make a custard too. I found my recipes through La Fuji Mama's blog- she provided the pastry recipe, and linked to Tartelette for a yummy Custard recipe. I suggest you check out La Fuji Mama's blog for a great step-by-step photo tutorial on how to make the pastry..it is far more simple than I ever would have imagined pastry to be. I can't wait to see what else I can use this recipe for!

I was surprised at how easy both parts of this recipe are...and they turned out some gorgeous and very tasty giant cream puffs! I'll definitely be making these again in the future...you should too!

Printable Recipe: Cream Puffs


Cream Puffs
Pastry from La Fuji Mama
Will make  6 giant, 10 large, 20 medium, or 4 dozen mini cream puffs..whatever you desire!

1 cup water
1 stick butter
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together flour and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Boil water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When water is at a rolling boil, drop the stick of butter into the pan. Allow the butter to melt. When the butter is completely melted, dump all of the flour into the pan at once, and stir well. Continue to stir, still over the heat, until the dough forms a ball that pulls away from the side of the saucepan.

Remove from heat, and let cool for a minute or so. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Continue stirring until dough is nice and smooth.

Drop balls of dough (whatever size you prefer) with a spoon onto parchment paper. For giant or large puffs, bake for 30 minutes or until they are a gorgeous golden brown, and nice and puffy. Reduce baking time for smaller puffs- 22-25 minutes for medium, 17-20 for small/mini. Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack. I poke a hole into the top of each puff with a toothpick to let some of the steam escape, and to prevent the puffs from collapsing. This recipe doesn't say to do that, but I did anyways.

While the puffs are in the oven, whip up your custard!

Vanilla Custard from Tartelette

2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy cream *
1/2 cup milk *
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

* the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups half and half. I didn't have half and half in my fridge, so I tried this combination and it worked well.

Whisk together cornstarch, sugar and egg yolks in a small bowl. Combine milk and cream in a measuring cup, and stir to combine. Add 1/2 cup of the milk/cream mixture to the egg/cornstarch mixture, and mix until smooth. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the remaining milk/cream over medium heat until it boils. Remove from heat, and pour slowly into the egg/cornstarch mixture, whisking while pouring, to temper the eggs. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan, and whisk constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens. When the mixture has formed a nice custard (about 5 minutes), remove from heat and pour into a small bowl. Place a layer of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Refrigerate for 30 minutes - an hour to thicken even more before filling cream puffs.

Assemble your cream puffs.


You can do one of two things here...you could put the custard in a pastry bag fitted with a filling tip, poke a hole in your puffs, and fill. If you're like me, you'll slice off the top of the puff, put a generous helping of custard on top of the bottom half, top with the remaining slice of puff, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
The addition of the powdered sugar made these taste dangerously close to the cream puffs I remember from Schmidt's...I'll have to restrain myself from making these every day!!

Everything is better with a drizzle of homemade Caramel!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!