Paczki are round Polish doughnuts filled with prune, rose-hip jam or custard and dusted in icing sugar or glazed. Eaten by the thousand on Fat Tuesday in Hamtramck.

Paczki arrived in Detroit with Polish immigrants in the 1880s. They are the Polish answer to using up lard, eggs and sugar before Lent, traditionally eaten on Tlusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday) and Fat Tuesday. By the 1950s Hamtramck's Polish bakeries collectively sold over a million on Paczki Day; New Palace Bakery on Joseph Campau, founded 1908, is the last surviving Polish bakery from the original wave. Detroit-area news stations cover the lines wrapping the block on Fat Tuesday each year, and Faygo released a paczki-flavored soda for the 2020 edition.

Where to eat Paczki in Detroit

2 editor picks for Paczki in Detroit, ranked by editorial score. All Detroit signature dishes · Paczki across every city.

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Make it at home

Serves 164 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g all-purpose flour
  • 8g instant yeast
  • 60g sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 250ml whole milk, warmed
  • 80g unsalted butter, softened
  • 30ml vodka or rum
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Prune jam, rose-hip jam or custard for filling
  • Neutral oil for frying
  • Powdered sugar for dusting

Method

  1. Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
  2. Whisk together egg yolks, warm milk, butter, vodka and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and knead 10 minutes until smooth.
  3. Cover and rest for 90 minutes until doubled.
  4. Roll the dough to half an inch thick. Cut 3-inch rounds; rest covered for 30 minutes.
  5. Heat oil to 350F in a heavy pot. Fry the paczki 90 seconds per side until deep golden.
  6. Drain on a rack. While warm, inject filling with a piping bag or pastry syringe (about a tablespoon each).
  7. Dust with powdered sugar. Eat warm.

Editor tip. Vodka in the dough reduces gluten development, keeping the paczki tender. Prune jam (powidla) is the canonical filling; rose-hip is the editorial pick.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg.