paczki - famous polish donuts

(2 ratings)
Recipe by
Kim Biegacki
Youngstown, OH

Fat Tuesday is right around the corner on February 17th, 2015 and it's Paczki time!!! Yes, the famous Polish donut called Paczki was originated for lent to get rid of all the fatty goodies from the kitchen before the fast. My good friend Kaycee & went to Chef Tad's class & learned how to make these sweet treats. This dough is easy to with & the orange zest is a must. Two favorite fillings are apricot & poppy seed. When the flat cut out rounds of dough are dropped down in the hot oil they puff up, real "FAT" making them hollow inside and perfect for filling! Compliments of Chef Tad!

(2 ratings)
yield 2 dozen or more
prep time 2 Hr 40 Min
cook time 5 Min
method Deep Fry

Ingredients For paczki - famous polish donuts

  • 3 lg
    extra-large eggs *
  • 6 lg
    extra-large egg yolks *
  • *THIS RECIPE CALLS FOR EXTRA LARGE EGGS. YOU'LL NEED TO USE LESS FLOUR FOR SMALLER EGGS.
  • 3/4 c
    sugar
  • 1/2 c
    butter, melted
  • 1 md
    orange, zested (whole orange)
  • 1 tsp
    salt
  • 1/2 c
    cream
  • 1/2 c
    milk
  • 1 1/2 oz
    vodka, or bourbon or spiced rum
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp
    yeast
  • 5 1/2 c
    flour

How To Make paczki - famous polish donuts

  • 1
    Melt you 1/2 cup of butter and let cool to room temp. Warm milk and cream. Beat the whole eggs, yolks and sugar together then add butter and beat thoroughly. Next, add orange zest, salt, cream, milk, yeast, spiced rum and mix well. * THE DOUGH WILL BE SOFT AND STICKY. IT SHOULD ROLL OUT VERY EASILY AND SMOOTHLY.
  • 2
    Let the dough rise till double in bulk (at least an hour or longer), punch it down and let it double in bulk again. Here is Chef Tad punching down the dough.
  • 3
    After second rising, punch the dough down again and divide dough. Dust your board liberally with flour and roll out your dough to about 1/2 inch thick.
  • 4
    Cut into rounds with at least a 3 inch cutter & fry in hot oil. (If you have no cutter then you could use a thoroughly washed tuna can as your cutter.) HEAT YOUR OIL BETWEEN 325 TO 350 DEGREES. --- This is my good friend Kaycee who joined me for the class.
  • 5
    Depending on the size of your fryer only put a few in at a time. This size that we used in the photo we dropped about 5 to 6 rounds in at a time. Let them start to puff up in the middle and you can see them brown on the one side then turn them over to finish browning the other side. Take them out and let them drain on a paper towel. This happens very quickly within a minute or two.
  • 6
    After they have cooled you can fill them with your favorite filling or leave plain and dust with powdered sugar or plain sugar. --THESE DONUTS WHEN THEY PUFF UP ARE HOLLOW INSIDE. SO, IT MAKES THEM PERFECT FOR FILLING.
  • 7
    Here we are filling and dusting the paczki! VERY TRADITIONAL FILLINGS FOR PACZKI - Apricot Poppyseed Black Raspberry Lekvar - (sweetened prune puree) Rose Cherry and more non-traditional flavors too.
  • 8
    Put the coffee on...fill up some glasses with cold milk and let's eat some Paczki!
  • 9
    FOR FUN: Our male Schnoodle is named after the famous Paczki. It wasn't until I met my husband Anthony that I heard about the famous Paczki. Not only is his heritage Polish/Italian but he used to be a police officer and has had his share of Paczki. Every year, there is a box of Paczki's that arrive mysteriously in our kitchen! But now, I know how to make them so we can have some homemade. If Paczki the Schnoodle was allowed to eat these famous Paczki he for sure would win. He would probably eat all of them and then be sick but I can assure you every last Paczki would be gone. Do you see his focus on the donut? LOL --- I think he was thinking are they mine? All mine?!
  • 10
    I stopped over at Krakus Polish Deli & Bakery here in my hometown and saw these lovely towels and just "HAD" to get one. It only seemed right don't you think? lol
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