Vareniki are Russian dumplings that are can be filled with farmer’s cheese, berries, mashed potatoes, or other meatless variations. Known for their half-moon shaped appearance they’re typically boiled and made from a yeast-free dough.
There are three kinds of Eastern European dumplings that go by the following names;
3-Kinds of European Dumplings
Pelmeni – Mostly filled with a meat mixture. They are usually round and much smaller in shape than Vareniki.
Pierogies– Well known for the mashed potato fillings and believed to be originated from Poland. Very similar to vareniki, although the dough might have some slight differences in texture.
Vareniki– dumplings that are typically filled with a meatless filling. Some popular fillings for these dumplings are, Blueberries (tossed in some sugar), a cabbage blend mixture, farmers cheese and mashed potatoes, etc…
Tips on the Texture of the Dough for European Dumplings:
- The doughs may vary in texture as each dumpling recipe is different but the concept is very basic as commonly used ingredients for these dumplings consist of flour, eggs, milk, water, or buttermilk. Depending on what ingredients you use each dumpling may be different in texture.
- If you want denser and slightly thinner vareniki use basic ingredients such as water and flour. And if you want to have fluffier vareniki use ingredients like buttermilk and rising agents such as baking soda for fluffier results. This recipe is for fluffy yet slightly dense vareniki. They are al dente to the bite and don’t fall apart unless you were to over boil them. This classic recipe is from my mother who makes amazing vareniki. In this post, I will be showing both mixer & bread machine methods. Although I didn’t seem to see a drastic difference between the two, I did notice air bubbles in the dough from the bread machine dough (meaning, it was much fluffier than the mixer dough). Both resulted in fabulous results. I filled my vareniki with a farmer’s cheese and blueberry filling. Serve with some sour cream and enjoy!
Ingredients for vareniki:
How to make Vareniki:
If using a stand mixer: Whisk the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients; combine and knead the dough for about 7-8 min adding more buttermilk if needed. The dough will be tacky yet firm. Cover and allow to sit 20 minutes.
If using a bread machine: just combine all ingredients and set the bread machine to dough settings. Bread machine settings will knead and allow the dough to slightly rise so you can start working with the dough as soon as you remove it.
Dough from the mixer should look like this:
NOTE: THIS RECIPE IS FOR 1 PORTION (about 40 vareniki) I made 2 DOUGHS TO DEMONSTRATE THE DIFFERENCES. ONE PORTION MAKES 1 BALL OF DOUGH. The bread machine dough was slightly smoother and fluffier than the mixer dough.
Once the dough is made, you are ready to make vareniki:
- On a lightly floured surface roll out the ball of dough into a rectangle about 20″ long by 14″ wide.
- Using a biscuit cutter or cup (about 2 1/2″ in diameter) cut out circles from the rolled out dough.
3. Fill each circle with a teaspoon of filling. Then pinch sides to seal vareniki and place onto a floured surface.
Blueberry Filling: sprinkle about 1/4 tsp of sugar over the blueberries.
Cheese Filling: Combine all the ingredients together and rub with a spoon to soften the cheese mixture. Add a heaping teaspoon into each circle.
4. Roll out the scraps to use up any leftovers.
5. To cook vareniki; bring a large pot of water to a boil (about halfway full.) Add vareniki and boil for 5 minutes from the time you throw them in. They should float up to the top.
6. Toss cooked vareniki in some butter and serve with sour cream.
Vareniki Dough Recipe (Blueberry or Cheese Filling)
Ingredients
THE DOUGH:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp oil
BLUEBERRY FILLING:
- 12 oz Fresh blueberries
- 1/8 tsp sugar for each dumpling
CHEESE FILLING:
- 1 lb 9 oz Farmers cheese half a log
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- If using a stand mixer: Whisk the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients; combine and knead the dough for about 7-8 min adding more buttermilk if needed. The dough will be tacky yet firm. Cover and allow to sit 20 minutes.
- If using a bread machine: just combine all ingredients and set the bread machine to dough settings. Bread machine settings will knead and allow the dough to slightly rise so you can start working with the dough as soon as you remove it.
- On a lightly floured surface roll out a ball of dough into a rectangle about 20" long by 14" wide.
- Using a biscuit cutter or cup (about 2 1/2" in diameter) cut out circles from the rolled out dough.
- Fill each circle with a teaspoon of filling.
- If doing blueberry filling sprinkle about 1/4 tsp of sugar over the blueberries.
- If using cheese filling; Combine all the ingredients together and rub with a spoon to soften the cheese mixture. Add a heaping teaspoon into each circle.
- Pinch sides to seal vareniki and place onto a floured surface.
- Roll out the scraps to use up any leftovers.
- To cook vareniki; bring a large pot of water halfway full to a boil. Add vareniki and boil for 5 minutes from the time you throw them in. They should float up to the top.
- Toss cooked vareniki in some butter and serve with sour cream
TIP: You can freeze the vareniki after filling only avoid freezing any berry ones (the juice from the berries can leak out when thawed). If cooking frozen vareniki boil an additional 2 minutes.
