Babka

I heard about a chocolate babka (Jewish/eastern European bread) and decided to try making one. Chocolate isn't very popular in my family, so I used walnuts and mango jam for the filling (we put nuts in everything, as a rule). This picture doesn't do the babka justice, but it looks quite pretty when sliced and braided. I used this recipe. The bread was especially good sliced and toasted.

Pierogis

I really miss pierogis sometimes and decided to make them by hand this year. This recipe turned out fairly well. I thought the dough was far too wet at first, but it rolled out nicely enough. I took the advice in the comments and tried to roll the dough as thinly as possible. Once I'd cut out the circles, I rolled each one even thinner. I added some sweet potato to the filling, and instead of cheddar cheese, added feta to the potato mash. I also added a fried onion to the filling. I think I'd want to spice it up more in the future. I'd definitely recommend pan-frying the pierogis after boiling them (right before eating, fry them up). They're best when a little browned.

Mt. Hope