Suszone Sliwki: Polish Prune Pierogi Filling

Pillowy pierogi are central to the cuisines of Eastern Europe, where cooks serve them with many different fillings and varied accompaniments, such as sour cream, caramelized onions, bacon bits, and fruit relishes. These savory dumplings also occupy an important place in North America, where European immigrants have made them famous in local eateries that celebrate the flavors of their countries of origin. While savory stuffings include onions, meat, cabbage, potatoes, cheese, and spinach, these dumplings also come in sweet styles that use ricotta cheese, berries, chocolate, or sweet sour cream as their filling. But one of the most traditional sweet fillings is prunes, and this easy recipe will give you a very flavorful stuffing for your next batch of pierogis. Fried or boiled, sweet prune stuffed pierogis are a delicious dessert that you should definitely try—a drizzle of melted butter or a good dust of powdered sugar makes them simply irresistible.

Prunes are the dried form of fresh plums, but not all plums can be dried into prunes. When buying prunes at the store, you are most likely getting the dried European variety of the fresh fruit. Most prunes are additive-free but check the label to be sure they don't contain sulfites like sulfur dioxide, which even if it's a common food preservative the more natural your ingredients the more wholesome the final product is. Very high in fiber, prunes are famously known as an aid in digestive issues, but also as a rich source of key vitamins and minerals. A cup of prunes without added sugar has over 7 grams of fiber, and close to 45 milligrams of magnesium, more than 10 percent of the RDI—which varies from 310 milligrams for women to 400 milligrams for men.

To use this filling, simply drop a couple of tablespoons of it in the center of each piece of pierogi dough and cook according to your preferred method. The prune filing can also be used with pie crusts, hand pies, thumbprint cookies, or as a spread for toast. The preparation can be kept in the fridge for up to a week, or frozen in a ziptop bag for up to three months. Great on vanilla ice cream, the prune mix is also a sweet addition to a cheese and charcuterie plate as it pairs nicely with bold cheeses like Gorgonzola and Stilton.