Mom’s Potato Knishes

Mom’s Potato Knishes

As a recipe developer, it’s not often that I make other peoples recipes, and when I do, it’s often ones that have been in my family for years. I usually find myself cooking my mom’s dishes around the High Holidays – there’s just something about the Days of Awe that makes me want to connect to my roots, and how more so than with food.

Mom’s potato knishes are a staple at every holiday meal, and it has always been my favorite, because, well… potatoes. It’s probably the only time you’ll see me using margarine – EVER – because coconut oil just doesn’t fly here and to keep the knishes pareve, I’ve got no other choice. Plus, puff pastry is basically 80% margarine anyway, so what’s a little more, amiright?

What I love about this recipe is that the filling makes enough to fill 3 whole rolls and they freeze great! And since they’re frozen unbaked, they taste like you just made them when you bake them up before serving. = a perfect recipe for long holidays like Succos coming up! If you have a custom to eat stuffed foods for the Harvest Holiday, I’ve got you covered there too!

Related Recipes:

cabbage bourekas
deli roll
spanakopita bourekas
salmon en croute with creamed leeks

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20 thoughts on “Mom’s Potato Knishes

  1. RE: Mom’s Potato Knishes
    If I made these and froze then, how long do you bake and at what temperature do you bake the frozen Knishes?
    Thank you

  2. This looks delicious. I would love to make it for Yom tov! Can I bother you with a couple of questions? Do you cut the slits all the way through until the bottom layer or just the top layer? Does the puff pastry inside get fully baked? I hate raw puff pastry that you often find inside deli roll.

    1. Hi Adina, I don’t cut all the way through, I just make a slit, not deep at all. The puff pastry inside kind of melts into the potatoes if that makes sense. You don’t really see those layers anymore but you also don’t taste raw dough. It’s basically one big mush in a very delicious kind of way!

  3. the original moms knishes came out of Borough Park section in Brooklyn, they are called Piroshki & are made with a yeast dough not Phylo or strudel type dough. the original knish (MOMs was sold by Ruby the knish man from a small metal pushcart that had a charcoal or wood oven to keep the knishes hot . during the winter ruby sold hot sweet potatoes out of the same cart at school yards in East New York & Brownsville.

  4. Hi, Chanie, this looks good, but 2 factors require clarification:

    (1) When Sarah asked “3 knishes?” you answered “yes – 3 rolls”
    What i think you really meant, is that 3 rolls make about THIRTY knishes
    Correct if this is wrong.

    (2) Pastry Sheets come by the ounces
    So when you state Three Sheets
    …do you mean Three 15-oz. sheets?
    ……or do you mean Three 20-oz. sheets?
    ………..or what?

    1. Hi Judy, this recipe makes a large amount of knishes – 3 puff pastry rolls which, when sliced, is about 24 knishes (I would say a roll yields 8 knishes).

      The puff pastry sheets that I use come 2 to a box at 17.3oz for both, so that’s 3 8.65oz. sheets.

      I hope this clarifies!

  5. Chanie, did you see my previously posted Q (i.e. i asked how many ounces is each pastry sheet)?

    Also, regarding your Zucchini Mechshi. I suggest you look up the Newness Veggie Corer on Amazon. As well, research the Newness Apple Corer (or Oxo Apple Corer).

    They can all aid toward coring Mechshi.

  6. Ruby the Knishman ©
    Gary Shulman, MS. Ed.
    June 17, 2021

    Oh how I do wish
    For a Ruby’s knish
    Be it Kasha or tater
    No one did it any greater
    Hot knishes he’d serve
    With finesse, class and verve
    Blackened fingernails added flavor
    We indulged and we did savor
    The wonderful, sumptuous and elegant taste
    Not a single crumb ever went to waste
    That was indeed a wonderful time
    When Ruby’s knishes were better than wine
    Now we think back on those glorious days
    How we relished those treats,
    Enjoyed by us all in so many ways
    Days of knishes so fine and so grand
    And how cherished Ruby’s knishes were
    In dear sweet Canarsie-land

  7. Question about serving- once baked do you slice and serve on a platter or leave in a roll and slice as needed by guests? Thank you.

  8. While these are not the knish of my childhood, those had a yellowish/ brown wrapping these look delicious. I have bought enough ingredients to make some and freeze some to bring me back to my days on Long Island.

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