Homemade Paczki (Polish Doughnuts) – Brown Eyed Baker

Paczki are traditional Polish doughnuts that are made from a rich brioche-style dough, filled with your favorite fruit preserves and rolled in sugar. These are served on Paczki Day (i.e. Fat Tuesday) here in the U.S. and on Fat Thursday in other parts of the world!

I first heard of pączki nearly a dozen years ago, when I noticed them at the grocery store right before Lent. I did a little digging and found that they are Polish pastries similar to jelly donuts. They are traditionally made and eaten on Fat Tuesday and Fat Thursday (I had never heard of Fat Thursday before researching these!).

As it turns out, Fat Thursday (called Tłusty Czwartek in Poland) is a Christian feast marking the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday. Traditionally, it is a day dedicated to gathering with friends and family to eat large quantities of sweets, cakes, and other meals often given up during Lent. I couldn’t find anything that spelled out a discernible difference between Fat Tuesday and Fat Thursday, except that certain regions and religions tend to celebrate one or the other. The concept is definitely the same – indulge as much as possible right before Lent!

Now, back to the paczki… The difference between these and a basic doughnut is that paczki is made with a very rich, sweet yeast dough consisting of eggs, butter, and milk. Sort of like a brioche doughnut, only better, if you can imagine!

When I started to poke around for recipes, I called my grandma (whose father was from Poland) to see if she had a recipe for paczki. Sadly, she did not but said that her mom used to make them.

So, I started Googling “paczki recipe” and then revised it to “grandma’s paczki recipe”. I wanted something authentic, and I found more than a handful of recipes that originated with someone’s grandma. While all the ingredients were the same, the quantities and methods varied from recipe to recipe, so I pieced together what I thought sounded delicious and started on my way.

The most traditional paczki recipes call for filling the doughnuts with fruit preserves, jam, or prune butter, while others said their grandma never used a filling. Some say they must be rolled in powdered sugar, while others say they have always been rolled in granulated sugar. If you don’t prefer either, go your own way and do a simple glaze!

So, I did a test batch of each: filled/powdered, filled/granulated, unfilled/powdered, and unfilled/granulated. For the filled ones, I did half raspberry and half apricot preserves for the initial testing.

My husband and I taste-tested all of them, and both came to the conclusion that the unfilled ones rolled in granulated sugar were hands down our favorite. Jelly doughnuts were never my thing, so I wasn’t surprised that I preferred the unfilled ones. As for the sugar coating, both tasted good, but I love the crunch of granulated sugar on the outside of a doughnut. So hard to beat it!