Pączki (pronounced "poonch-key") are iconic Polish doughnuts that hold a special place in the hearts of many. These delectable treats are deep-fried to golden perfection and filled with a variety of delectable fillings, ranging from traditional prune jam to modern favorites like chocolate cream or custard. Pączki are traditionally enjoyed on Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before Lent, but their popularity has spread far beyond this holiday, making them a beloved treat throughout the year.
This article features a collection of carefully curated Pączki recipes that cater to diverse tastes and skill levels. Whether you're a seasoned baker looking to elevate your Pączki game or a novice cook eager to try your hand at this Polish delicacy, you'll find a recipe that suits your needs. From classic recipes that stay true to tradition to innovative variations that incorporate unique flavors and fillings, this article has something for everyone. So, gather your ingredients, put on your apron, and embark on a culinary journey to create these delightful Polish doughnuts that are sure to become a hit at your next gathering.
BAKED PACZKI (POLISH DOUGHNUTS)
This baked paczki recipe is lower in fat than ones fried in hot oil. They are eaten on Fat Tuesday in America and on Fat Thursday in Poland.
Provided by Barbara Rolek
Categories Dessert
Time 3h55m
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Gather the ingredients.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, add the yeast to the warm milk; stir to dissolve and set aside.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and butter until fluffy.
- Beat in the egg, egg yolks, brandy or rum, and salt until well incorporated.
- Add 4 1/2 cups of the flour alternately with the milk-yeast mixture and beat for 5 or more minutes until smooth. The dough will be very slack. If much too soft or runny, add the remaining 1/2 cup flour.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, anywhere from 1 to 2 1/2 hours.
- Punch down the dough and let rise again.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll to 1/2 to 3/4-inch thickness. Cut rounds with a 3-inch cutter. Remove the scraps, re-roll, and re-cut.
- Transfer the rounds to parchment-lined baking sheets, cover, and let rounds rise until doubled in bulk, 30 minutes or longer. Heat the oven to 375 F.
- Place pączki in the oven and bake 8 to 10 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean.
- Remove from the oven; if coating in granulated sugar, brush the tops and sides with melted butter and roll in granulated sugar while still hot. If using confectioners' sugar, let the doughnuts cool before coating.
- To fill the pączki , let them cool completely, cut a slit in the side, and slip a teaspoon of fruit paste or jam inside. Then dust with confectioners' sugar or roll in granulated sugar.
- Serve and enjoy.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 271 kcal, Carbohydrate 25 g, Cholesterol 81 mg, Fiber 1 g, Protein 5 g, SaturatedFat 10 g, Sodium 110 mg, Sugar 5 g, Fat 17 g, ServingSize 24 doughnuts, UnsaturatedFat 0 g
PACZKI (POLISH DOUGHNUTS)
You can fill these with jam, lemon curd, chocolate pudding, or custard (my favorite). It's best to have the egg yolks & oil at room temperature and be sure to aerate your flour before measuring. - Jenny Jones
Time 1h30m
Yield 12
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Place flour, sugar, salt, & yeast in large bowl.
- Stir in warm milk, followed by oil, egg yolks & vanilla.
- With electric mixer, beat for 2 minutes on high speed.
- Stir in enough flour until the dough holds together.
- On a floured surface, knead 50 turns, cover with plastic and let rest 10 min.
- If using custard filling, make it now so it can cool. (see recipe below)
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a floured surface, roll dough 1/2-inch thick. Cut circles using a 2 1/2 -inch round cutter, dipped in flour. Re-roll scraps.
- Place mounds on baking sheet, cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm spot about 45 minutes. (1 hour at room temp.) During this time, preheat oven to 375° F.
- When paczki are puffy, but not necessarily doubled in size, bake for 10 minutes.
- Melt butter and place 1/3 cup sugar in a plastic produce bag. Lay down some wax paper to save cleanup.
- Remove paczki immediately from pan to wax paper. Brush each one while warm (top & sides) with melted butter and roll in bag to coat with sugar.
- For jam, fill warm or cooled paczki using a pastry bag with a long tip, pushing into the side, or cut a slit in the side and insert filling with a spoon. For custard, cool paczki before filling. All paczki are best served right away.
- In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup sugar + 4 teaspoons cornstarch. Slowly stir in 1 cup low fat or whole milk + 1 egg yolk. Bring to a boil. Cook & stir about a minute. (it thickens more as it cools) Spread onto a dinner plate and let it stand, undisturbed, to cool thoroughly before using - refrigerate if necessary.
PACZKI - FAMOUS POLISH DONUTS
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...
Provided by Kimberly Biegacki
Categories Sweet Breads
Time 2h45m
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- 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
POLISH DONUTS PąCZKI RECIPE
Use this easy paczki recipe for Polish donuts made on Tłusty Czwartek. Light and spongy, the tasty donuts can be stuffed with pudding or jam, or covered with glaze!
Provided by Karolina Klesta
Categories Dessert
Time 2h40m
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- If it's cold in your kitchen, heat your oven to 86°F (30°C).
- Sift the flour.
- Warm up the milk.
- Using a spoon, mix yeast with 1 tbsp of sugar. Add 3 tbsps of warm milk and 1 tbsp of flour. Mix and leave it for 30 minutes to grow.The mixture will double or triple its size, that's why you should place it in a big bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen cloth. If it's cold in your kitchen, place a bowl in the oven heated to 86°F (30°C).
- In the meantime, beat egg yolks with sugar until they change the color to whitish. If you are using the pudding filling, it's the right time to do it (read how to do it below).
- After 30 minutes, mix all the ingredients for the dough together. You may knead it manually or use a food processor. Knead until the dough starts to detach from your hand.
- Place the dough in a big bowl, cover with a clean kitchen cloth, and leave to grow for about 30-60 minutes until it doubles its size. Again, if it's cold in your kitchen, place the bowl in the oven.
- When the dough has doubled its size, knead it briefly to remove excessive air bubbles.
- Pour the oil into the wok or big pot and start heating it up.
- Start forming pączki. Each should have the size of the tangerine.
- Cover pączki with a kitchen cloth and wait until the oil is ready to fry.How to check whether the oil is hot enough? Throw a small piece of the dough into the oil. If it stays on the bottom, the oil is still too cold. If the dough comes straight up to the surface, the oil is ready to fry.
- Fry pączki for about 3-5 minutes on each side.
- After frying, place the pączki on a plate lined with paper towels to remove the excessive fat.
- Pour one cup of milk into the pot.
- Add egg yolks, sugar, and whip it together until you will get a smooth, yellow color.
- Place a pot on the stove, cook slowly, stirring frequently.
- In the meantime, pour half a cup of milk into the small bowl.
- Add potato flour. Mix until dissolved.
- When the mixture in the pot nearly boils, add milk with potato starch and mix until you will get the consistency of pudding.
- Mix 1 cup of icing sugar with 1 tbsp water and heat up until you get a smooth consistency.
- When the donuts are still warm, fill them up with jam or pudding using a big syringe (like this). You will need about 30-50ml of filling per donut.
- If you are using sugar glaze, pour them onto warm pączki. You may add candied orange peel as well.
- Alternatively, you may use icing sugar. Sprinkle it when the pączki are cold.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 350 calories, Carbohydrate 65 grams carbohydrates, Cholesterol 112 milligrams cholesterol, Fiber 2 grams fiber, Protein 9 grams protein, SaturatedFat 9 grams saturated fat, ServingSize 1, Sodium 188 milligrams sodium, Sugar 26 grams sugar, TransFat 1 grams trans fat
Tips:
- To make the perfect paczki, use fresh ingredients, especially butter and eggs. This will give the donuts a rich, flavorful taste.
- Make sure the yeast is active before using it. To test, mix the yeast with a little warm water and sugar. If the mixture foams up after a few minutes, the yeast is active and ready to use.
- Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic. This will help to develop the gluten in the flour, which will give the donuts a chewy texture.
- Let the dough rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size. This will give the yeast time to work and create air pockets in the dough, which will make the donuts light and fluffy.
- When frying the donuts, use a neutral-flavored oil, such as canola or vegetable oil. This will prevent the oil from overpowering the flavor of the donuts.
- Fry the donuts until they are golden brown on all sides. This will ensure that they are cooked through and have a crispy exterior.
- Drain the donuts on paper towels to remove any excess oil before serving.
Conclusion:
Paczki are a delicious and festive treat that is perfect for any occasion. They are easy to make and can be customized with your favorite fillings and toppings. So next time you are looking for a special treat, give paczki a try!
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