I had never heard of Pączki before moving to Michigan. They are, basically, filled Polish donuts. But much, much better than regular jelly-filled doughnuts. Made (if done traditionally) with grain alcohol, brandy or rum.
I’m not a big doughnut fan, but Pączki are different. Richer and better. And they’re only available for a few weeks a year, since they’re traditionally only eaten on Fat Tuesday and thereabouts.
I bought a six-pack today from a little local bakery that makes (among other flavours) date-filled packzi, my favourite. So freaking good - I ate two this morning :eek: and am probably going to hell for it but I am OK with that.
As an aside, it’s pronounced “punch-key”, best I can tell.
So…who else has pączki available? And what is your favourite flavour?
Cream. But REAL cream, not just jello pudding mix. There’s this bakery here in Pittsburgh that makes them and they’re heavenly. In fact, my dad brought some home yesterday.
Oooh! Also it’s King Cake time. I love Pączki, too. These are part of an ancient tradition of using up the sweets, good white flour, etc. before Lent. Splurge, baby, and mmm, post Lent, you have hot cross buns.
I’ve only encountered them once. Not surprising, since I’m down here in FLA. The Pączki were from a grocery chain and so were basically just jelly filled donuts. Quite good, but not any different from any other filled donuts.
SE michigan resident here. At my last job someone used to make a run to a real Polish bakery in Hamtramck and pick up several dozen. My favorite is the custard-filled with chocolate frosting on top. I’m hoping for the sake of my weight loss goals nobody brings in those kind- I have just enough willpower to leave the jelly-filled ones alone.
I also know it pronounced as “POONCH-key”, though “POONCH-keh” might be a little more accurate.
Well, in standard Polish, it could also be a use of the accusative (objective) or genitive case. So:
pączek (singular)
pączki (plural)
pączka (singular accusative, and singular genitive)
So, daj mi pączka: “give me a [type of Polish donut]” On ma pączka: “he has a [type of Polish donut]”
Or, from the Polish Wikipedia: W tłusty czwartek statystyczny Polak zjada 2,5 pączka: “On Fat Tuesday, statistically a Pole eats 2.5 [Polish donuts].”
Anyhow, in English it’s pronounced “poonch-key” or “punch-key,” but in Polish the “ą” is a nasal vowel, pronounced similar to the French on, although usually with an audible “n” at the end. (That said, the amount of nasalization varies among dialect.)
The name is just too perfect: “paunch key,” i.e. the key to developing a big paunch.
This works even better than that Arab restaurant, Fettoosh, which is reinterpreted as “Fat Toosh” (although the name actually refers to a type of salad with pita croutons).
I’m originally from a town in NW Indiana with a large Polish population. I remember these delectable goodies well and miss them (although my waistline probably doesn’t).
I’ve yet to see them offered for sale here in Colorado. Does anyone know if there is a company who will ship them?
I used to live in Michigan and I always found that the doughnut part of the paczki itself was tasty, but then the cheapest, nastiest grade of gloopy cornstarch filling was applied which ruined the whole thing. Even supposedly good bakeries use this nasty low-grade filling. What’s up with that?
No clue. The traditional fillings tend to be prune/plum or rosehip jam (or even plain), and they tend to be sparingly applied. However, there are a lot more flavors now, and a lot of bakeries tend to go a little too crazy on the amount of filling.
It’s from the Polish-American Journal, and in the actual recipe in the article they call for traditional jam filling. However the picture shows what you actually get 90% of the time. I am in fact of Polish extraction, and just nibble around the edge and throw out the rest. I wish people had a little more pride in their product.
This is more like it. Or like this. There’s maybe a teaspoon or so of filling there.
My assumption is the more filling is to cater to more local tastes.
Cops & Donuts in Clare, MI will do mail order (yeah, it’s a great bakery owned by police officers!). My faves are the cream filled and raspberry. Here’s the link!
Perfect example of nicely made doughnut with a gross quantity of low-grade filling, offered by a supposedly reputable bakery. I guess its what people want, but for an outsider, there’s a big element of “the packzi has no clothes”. They just aren’t very good at all. They would be so much better if it was just a tablespoon of a nice quality preserve, which is actually how they’re supposed to be. sigh
