Say What…A Paczki?

Here in the Midwest, say from Buffalo west to Chicago (and everywhere in between) we look forward to Fat Tuesday as the eve of the start of Lent and because it also means Paczki Day. Pronounced (POONCH-Key) these airy filled fried Polish donuts are simply irresistible. I had never tried one until I moved to Ohio, and it wasn’t really until after I had started working for my company and traveling quite a bit to Detroit that I ever even tried one. I just happened to be in Detroit on a Fat Tuesday for a conference many years ago and these delicious donuts were everywhere. There is an enclave of Detroit – Hamtramck where at one time 90% of the residents were of Polish ancestry that has changed considerably over the years and in 2010 Poles only made up 10.9% of the population. However the tradition and history of the Polish bakeries continues to live on. On Paczki Day thousands of metro Detroiters line the streets and fill these bakeries to buy their authentic paczki. Traditionally these donuts were made by Polish Catholics as a means to using all the lard, butter, sugar and fruits in the house as these things were prohibited for consumption by Christian law during the forty days of Lent (Ash Wednesday to Good Friday). These days paczki are readily available in most every supermarket two weeks prior to Fat Tuesdayespecially here in northern Ohio. The best paczki in the state comes from a bakery located on Cooper Foster Park Road in Amherst (a suburb west of Cleveland) called Kiedrowski’s Simply Delicious Bakery. Voted by The Baking Channel as the “Best Bakery in America” in 2011. Known especially for their signature item, the Snoogle® a concoction born one evening as the owners set out to create something using leftover ingredients, they are sweet cream cheese filled pastries that they sell (according to their website) 40 dozen a day and 100+ dozen on weekends. Now those are good but this story is about the best paczki in the state! Kiedrowski’s has been selling these authentic old-world Polish deliciousness for over 30 years, the ten days before Lent they sell about 85,000 paczki under tents in their parking lot. The original Polish flavors of Apricot, Lekvar (prune), Rose (marmalade) and Poppy seed as well as a multitude of non-traditional flavors are available. The supermarket varieties are usually glazed and some are coated in powdered sugar and are limited to non-traditional flavors such as raspberry, apple, cherry, cream cheese and custard. My daughter Mallory is a paczki aficionado, she loves them, well she actually loves any type of donut but for her paczki time is a much anticipated time of the year, I just hope she can get them in Columbus this year! Yesterday I treated my PSR students to paczki in our studies of Lent and our Lenten traditions, they were very happy students. So if you want the real deal try and get Kiedrowski’s, if you can…I did see a banner in Sherri’s Coffee House window in Norwalk that they would have them on Fat Tuesday. Most places require that they be pre-ordered, I’ve never pre-ordered and have always enjoyed a POONCH-Key on Fat Tuesday since discovering them many years ago. May God Bless everyone this Lenten season!

I have included a baked Paczki recipe I found – I’m sure it’s just as good as the fried ones!