Pierogi Bake

This month’s What’s Baking theme is baking with garlic. We always vote on the theme and I do have to say, this is not the theme I voted for. I don’t like garlic all that much, and I don’t really do savory baking. I thought about a lot of things that I could bake for this month, and I was pretty stuck. I looked at quite a few different bread recipes, but it seems like I always run out of time to bake bread. 

There are a couple of recipes that I make that include garlic. I was making this dish and I realized that it was one of the few dishes that I make that have garlic, and it is baked. In a way, I worry that this isn’t really the spirit of the group, but it was honestly one of the few baked dishes with garlic that I like. I know that just about every blogger in the world has made and posted this dish, but it’s quite different for me!

This is a quick dish, and it’s not too hard to keep the ingredients on hand. You can keep the pierogies in the freezer. I sometimes have bacon and sometimes I don’t; this time I didn’t have any and the dish is still good without the bacon. This dish is very easy; the only tip that I can give is to make sure that the cream cheese is fairly soft when you start, otherwise it takes forever to become smooth. This is a good weeknight dinner, not exactly baking in the way I usually bake, but still baking! 

Pierogi Bake

16 ounce package frozen pierogies

2 slices bacon, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup shredded cheese

¾ cup diced tomatoes

Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 1-1/2 or 2 quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange the frozen pierogies in the prepared baking dish.

In a small skillet or medium saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside. Add the garlic to the bacon fat and cook until fragrant over medium heat, about 30 seconds. Add the cream cheese and continue cooking on medium, until the cream cheese is smooth. Add the chicken broth and stir until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the sauce over the pierogies. Top with shredded cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, top with the tomatoes and bacon, and return it to the oven. Bake for 5 additional minutes.

Sprinkle with pepper before serving. Serve hot.

Recipe from Stephanie Cooks