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Once you make the Basic Vareniky Dough, the cherry vareniki filling is very straightforward. You’ll need about 1lb pitted bing cherries, or whatever cherries you like best.
The best part is; you can use fresh or frozen cherries so they’re not just a summer treat. We have a cherry tree so we’re always freezing cherries for smoothies, pies, eating straight-up, and of course for these cherry pierogies!
Cherry Vareniki Ingredients:
Vareniky Dough (use the dough mentioned here)
1 lb pitted cherries (fresh, or frozen/partially thawed)
1/2 cup sugar (1/4 tsp per each dough round)
1/2 Tbsp salt (for the water)
How to make Cherry Vareniki:
1. Cut out dough rounds that are 2 to 3″ in diameter. You want to put 1/4 teaspoon sugar in the center of your cut-out dough round. Place cherries on top of the sugar. Fold the sides together and pinch together to make a tight seal.
(or) To make the cherry pelmeni:
Use 1/8 tsp sugar and 1 cherry. You can also make the dough rounds slightly smaller (about 2 inches). Fold the two sides of the dough together and pinch to make a tight seal. Then fold the two corners together to make a “diaper” shape. Place them on a floured cutting board until ready to cook.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. As you finish the first batch of pierogi, place them in boiling water. After they float to the top, cook about 2 to 3 minutes more, then remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl.
3. Sprinkle the pierogi with sugar to keep them from sticking together. Serve right away with sour cream or eat them as is.
Click Here for the Basic Pierogi Dough Recipe
Cherry Vareniki (Cherry Pierogi)
Ingredients
Instructions
How to make Cherry Vareniki:
- Cut out dough rounds that are 2 to 3″ in diameter. You want to put 1/4 teaspoon sugar in the center of your cut-out dough round. Place cherries on top of the sugar. Fold the sides together and pinch together to make a tight seal.
How to make the cherry pelmeni:
- Use 1/8 tsp sugar and 1 cherry. You can also make the dough rounds slightly smaller (about 2 inches). Fold the two sides of the dough together and pinch to make a tight seal. Then fold the two corners together to make a "diaper" shape.
- Place them on a floured cutting board until ready to cook.
- Add 1/2 Tbsp of salt to approximately 4 quarts of water and bring it to a boil. As you finish the first batch of pierogies, place them in boiling water. After they float to the top, cook about 2 to 3 minutes more, then remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl.
- Sprinkle the pierogies with sugar to keep them from sticking together. Serve right away with sour cream or eat them as is.
My mother added browned butter and sugar to the vereniki so they wouldn’t stick and served with soft cream too. Try it. She used blueberries too.
Thank you for the tip, I will try that next time :).
Here is an awesome recipe I use to make these. They are made on steam. I’ve tries the water method, but find these much softer and fluffier. Tell me how you like them if you will try it. http://www.tvcook.ru/recipes/vareniki/vareniki-na-paru.html
That does sounds really good! What do you use for steam cooking? Is it a special pot?
Thank you! 🙂
Mommy these sound so delicious right now! I’ve made these with blueberries.. Love them. But now I have a lot of sour cherries, have you ever tried making vareniki with them?
I think they would taste great with sour cherries! Let me know how much you love them 🙂
Nothing says summer better than these scrumptious vareniki!
Thanks Marina 🙂 I couldn’t agree with you more 🙂
Hey there,
Thanks for keeping traditions. Here’s another idea to all your cherry loving followers out there. Add a bit of grated dark chocolate to the finely diced cherries! Check out my blog…yours looks like a nice complimentary one to mine!
Thanks! Keep blogging!
Mmmmmm that sounds so good. I’m definitely a chocolate/cherry lover! 😉
Hello,
This is a wonderful blog!
One question – when not in season, can I use canned cherries?
thank you!
Yes! Make sure to drain them well so you don’t get juice leaking out while your trying to seal them. 🙂
you are best! thank you.
Anytime my friend 🙂
Hi. I’ve been craving these cherry vareniki for a while now. But I cannot find good kind of “vishni” here in the US. They have Cherris which are “chereshnya” in Ukraine. Anyone has a good kind to share.
There are some by the zergut brand that are nice. I have found them at Fred Meyer.
I am not sure where you live, but I know in northern CA where I live we do not have Fred Meyer, I have seen the zergut brand sour pitted cherries (probably the the same ones Natasha mentioned) in Costco at one point. Also most Russian/European stores here carry them. 🙂
We’ve made these cherry pierogi in our family for generations! I had no idea that anyone else made them also. Thought they were my Baba’s creation. Love your site, Natasha! My dad passed away 20 years ago and a lot of the family’s Ukrainian recipes went with him. It’s great to search through yours and walk down memory lane! Thank you!
I’m so glad the blog brings back sweet memories for you 🙂
Can this dough be prepared in the bread machine?
I have heard that it can but I haven’t tried it myself so I can’t really recommend it. Sorry 🙁
I will try and let you know what happens!
I made a large batch of these — can they be frozen for a couple of days? If so, how do you recommend storing them and freezing? Do you add flour so they do not stick? Thank you again for the fabulous recipe. They are delightful!
Hi Jen. I’ve never frozen the cherry ones but I don’t see why not. Yes, dust generously with flour, lay them out on a cutting board and freeze them on the top shelf of your freezer until they are frozen, then transfer them to large ziploc bags and dust with a little more flour. They can be frozen for at least a month. Hope that helps.
Privyet Natasha!
I have been looking for a Russian/Ukrainian recipe to make for my daughter’s Christmas around the world event next week. These look wonderful. Do you think kids would enjoy them?
Also, do you think you could substitute sour cherry preserves as a filling?
Thank you for your beautiful, informative site!
To be very honest, they are time consuming and can be messy for kids. It might be a better idea to serve them at home. Yes they are very yummy though! Russian tea cakes are a fun recipe that works well for Christmas. I have those posted a well. Hope that helps. You can substitute, just add a little more sugar.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! I really do appreciate it. Perhaps I will try the cake instead for the kids.
they not suppost to look like PELMENI don’t fold them by round! VARENIKI must have shape as half moon wavy pinched together by the half circle side. That way they bigger and joicy as well… 🙂
here is pictures how they suppost to look like:
http://gotovim-doma.ru/view.php?r=166-recept-Vareniki-s-vishnei
I made them both ways. They were easier to make as pelmeni toward the end so that’s what I did. I found they taste just as good, but are easier to make. You can make them either way.
I love these with tvorog/sweet cheese fiiling, do you by any chance have a recipe for a filling like that for varenuki?
Thank you very much for recipe, very very tasty
You are very welcome. Glad you enjoyed it. You have an awesome name by the way!
love this site! 🙂
Natasha,
Thank You, my mom passed a year ago, and now I am ready to make them myself. I just needed to make sure there wasn’t anything more inside the verenyks i needed. I do remember my mom put 1 t. vanilla topioco pudding inside of them. But for sure, they are soooo yummy.
Again, thank you and Merry Christmas.
mary
I usually just add cherries and sugar but tapioca sounds like a very good idea. Thank you!
These look so good. I have to try your recipe. I grew up on vareniki and just recently made my first batch! My kids were all over them. I did healthify the original recipe. If you want to check it out, here is a link. http://cuceesprouts.com/2010/09/vareniki/ Looking forward reading more of your recipes 🙂
This brings back memories……..I haven’t had these for such a long time. I think when I was very small and my Baba was around. I’m for sure going to make these soon……..they also were my Mom’s favourite. Thanks you for sharing this recipe. 🙂
You are very welcome. I hope they taste just the way you remember them.
They are very good; best when fresh. I make it with blueberries the same way too, they are just harder to work with because they are small.
YUM! I’ve learned potatoes…now have to try this 🙂 Actually never tried w/ cherries.