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4.5
Made them all my life. This is just so much more easier then making by hand and also makes them all more uniform. Only thing I will say is it takes some time to get used to and to roll your dough like it should beLove this thing. I attempted to make pierogies about 20 years ago and it was a disaster. I had the filling floating in the water and it took forever to make 3 dozen. I got the itch again to make them recently and after looking for recipes, somebody had mentioned using this product. I was intrigued and brought up some youtube videos and I thought how easy it seemed to be. So I spent my twenty bucks and waited anxiously for it to arrive. Once it arrived I read the recipe on the bag it's in and I thought I'd rather try a recipe I found online from Bobby Flay. So after making the filling and dough I made my first attempt at pierogies. Let's just say that it's as easy as it sounds. You flour the maker (some suggest cooking spray), lay dough on top... spoon in your filling (I suggest putting the filling in the fridge first) and then put your next layer of dough on top. Then all you do is just roll the roller on top. The dough separates from the mold and you just peel away. I was hoping to reuse the leftover scraps (because there is a lot) but I realized it had filling mixed in with it. I'm sure I still could've used it but didn't. I haven't cooked them yet but I did boil them since I used a sour cream recipe and if you don't boil them they turn brown. Anyways I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to make their own.So I started out with the KitchenAid past roller attachment and while it worked great, it was a living nightmare to clean when done. I have trouble using a rolling pin because I have hand issues, hence, I went with the KitchenAid attachment first. I don't have hours to spend cleaning that damn attachment, so here I am now, using the damn rolling pin again lol. To reduce the amount of time spent rolling and making pierogis, I bought this awesome item and fell in love. We make pierogis on a regular basis in our household and it's usually an all day thing. This helps speed up the process and can make 18 pierogis at a time. It's easy to use......just roll out your dough and place a layer over the device. Then place your filling in the dough and roll out your next layer of dough and place it on top. Use your rolling pin to secure the dough together and BAM.....you have pierogis :) I have learned to spend a little extra time making sure the dough is actually pressed together well before removing the pierogis from the device though. Learned that the hard way lol. Would definitely recommend!!! Good luck with pierogi making!I purchased both the big and little pierogi makers to avoid the tedious hand rolling involved with Chinese dumplings.The smallest is a little too small for my preferences, where the largest (this one) is a little too big for my preferences. Of course, my preferences were established surrounding making the perfect Chinese dumpling, so I did not reflect this in my rating.I purchased a small spray bottle, to give the dough a quick spritz to assist in sealing the top and bottom dough together.The maker is really easy to use. I found that after laying the first sheet of dough, I needed to press into the depression with a spoon to aid in the stretching of the dough to ensure a good amount of filling (and to prevent seepage of stuffing to the dough which weakens the seal). Further, unless the dough is thicker (more than 3mm) the seal will be weak. I wanted the dough to be thin, which made for tastier dumplings. I made several hundred with the maker and only a handful of each batch would break during cooking.Hope this helps!The Pierogi Maker arrived yesterday and we just made 36 pierogis using this wonderful tool. We followed the recipe on the back of the package exactly and here are a couple of hints: 1. Make sure you flour the Maker before putting the bottom layer of dough on it. This prevents any issues with sticking. 2. We used a cookie scoop to add the filling. It works like a charm. 3. After you place the top dough, pat it down with your hands - this pushes the filling into the bottom cavity. 4. When rolling over the top of the dough, start from the middle of the form and work your way outwards. Continue rolling until you see the orange plastic lines cut through the top dough. Remove the excess dough and then turn the form over and the pierogi's pop right out. We've been making pierogis for over 50 years "the old fashioned" way and this sure makes it easier. They do not pop open when boiling and remember to only boil 2 to 4 minutes. Enjoy!!Coming from a Polish household, it was a great sigh of relief to have finally found a product like this to help alleviate the pain and time when it comes to making pierogi.At first it is a bit intimidating and confusing, but I assure you, you might actually end up making pierogi more than once or twice a year once you have this.The dough needs to be relatively thin, but not too see-through so it does not break. I suggest the rolled out dough to be quite large, especially since it will sink into the forms once you put in the filing. Once you fill them all in, I dab some water on the edges of each shape so the top rolled out dough will stick much better. Finally, you put the top layer of rolled out dough and just push down on that rolling pin and roll so you cut out the pierogi. When you try and get the pierogi out, just pop them out and they hold quite well without pinching the ends additionally.Overall, the process is easy and it honestly makes a great gift too. Let's just say all my polish aunts are getting this next year.
