It really is just a matter of what the market wants. You get plenty of places in Chicago that stuff their paczki to the brim, too, but you do have a few bakeries that are more traditional in their approach as well. I have heard people complain or be puzzled about the less-filled paczki, even on the foodie message boards, because they’ve come to expect or want a more stuffed donut. It is what it is.
Hooray! Mrs. Munster, you’re my hero!
Well I guess I should look for them the next time I’m grocery shopping. I don’t normally go to that corner of the store but can’t resist the overly stuffed ones with custard or lemon “stuff”.
Oh yuck, I don’t like the look of that big glob of gooey oozey filling at all.
I’m no purist either and I’ve only had Pączki from two different places - Donna’s Donuts (indie bakery) and the ones from the Kroger grocery chain. Both just have the proper small schmear of filling. Honestly, the dough by itself would suffice.
I’ve heard of the Cops & Donuts bakery, even though I’m almost 100 miles from there. Mrs. Munster, welcome. 
Oakmont Bakery. As far as the fruit ones go, the raspberry ones are the best.
I generally only eat half for breakfast, because they’re so freaking huge.
Now I can’t wait until breakfast! LOL
They are on a huge cart at the entrance of a Walmart in Ohio.
Was thinking about @Guinastasia this weekend, since we stopped at Giant Eagle for our traditional box of Pączki.
Sto lat!
A committee I’m on at school is having our next meeting after school on Fat Tuesday, and the chair promised to bring some in for us.
I have seen them at Meijers but didn’t want to try them, even though Polish.
I’m currently visiting a friend in Chicago, but I’m flying home Wednesday so I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to have any Pączki while I’m here. I have been able to buy something like the real thing at home, but they’re not the same.
And while Pączki Day out here is celebrated on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday), in Poland it is observed as Fat Thursday the Thursday before Ash Wednesday (i.e. this Thursday.) So, if you need an excuse, you can celebrate Pączki Day twice: this Thursday and next Tuesday. (And the Poles here in Chicago do line up at the bakeries on Thursday as well, though it’s heavier traffic on Tuesday.)
And just so we’re saying it properly as we shovel these delights into our faces:
If you’re shoveling just one into your face, it’s a pączek-- pronounced “pohn-check.”
If you’re shoveling more than one into your face, they’re pączki-- pronounced “pohnch-kee.”
My great-grandmother used to make dozens of them every year with sugared prunes as the filling.
Lemon. The commissary and a couple other stores sell them.