Beef Piroshki

Ingredients:
Sour-cream pastry
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups finely chopped onions
1 pound ground beef
Salt, if desired
Freshly ground pepper
3 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped, about one cup
1/4 cup finely chopped dill
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons water

Procedures:
1. Prepare the pastry and chill it.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Heat the butter in a skillet and add the onions. Cook, stirring, until the onions are wilted.
4. Add the beef and, using a heavy metal kitchen spoon, stir and chop down to break up any lumps in the meat. Cook until meat loses its raw look. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the chopped egg and dill. Stir to blend. There should be about four cups. Remove to a mixing bowl and let cool.
6. Roll out the pastry as thinly as possible (less than one-eighth inch thick). Using a 3 1/2-to-5-inch cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds. We used a 4-inch cookie cutter to produce 30 rounds. The dough will shrink after cutting. You may roll out the circles or rounds to make them larger or you may stretch them carefully by hand. Beat the egg with the water. Brush the top of each pastry round with the egg mixture.
7. Use about two tablespoons of filling for each circle of dough. Shape the filling into an oval and place it on half of the circle of dough. Fold the other half of the circle of dough over to enclose the filling. Press the edges of the dough with the fingers or the tines of a fork to seal. Brush the tops with egg mixture to seal.
8. Arrange the filled pieces on a lightly greased baking sheet.
9. Place in the oven and bake 25 minutes.

Yield 30 piroshki


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Sour-Cream Pastry

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
Salt, if desired
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream

Procedures:
1. Put 3 1/4 cups of the flour, salt to taste, baking powder, butter, eggs and sour cream into the container of a food processor. Process until thoroughly blended.
2. If a food processor is not used, put the flour, salt to taste and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and cut it with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Using a fork, add the eggs and thoroughly blend.
3. Scrape the mixture out onto a lightly floured board and knead as briefly as possible, using as little flour as possible to make a smooth and workable dough.
4. Shape the dough into a flat cake and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill until ready to use.