- The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is Pączki.
Pączki (pronounced: PONCH-key) are traditional Polish doughnuts. Pączki is the plural form of the word pączek (pronounced: PON-check) in Polish, but many English speakers use paczki as singular and paczkis as plural.
Assorted paczki in America A pączek is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with jam or another sweet filling. A traditional filling is marmalade made from fried rose buds. Fresh pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing or bits of fried orange zest.
Traditionally, the reason for making pączki is that all the lard, sugar, and fruit in the house would need to be used up before Lent. They are eaten especially on Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before Lent (Polish: "Tłusty czwartek", not to be confused with Fat Tuesday) .
Polish emigrants have popularized this kind of doughnuts in some parts of the United States. Here, prunes are considered the traditional filling, but many other are used as well, including lemon, strawberry, Bavarian cream, or raspberry. Due to French influence, paczki are eaten on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) rather than on Fat Thursday. In the Polish community at Hamtramck (near Detroit) an American-style Paczki Day Parade is organized annually on Mardi Gras (also known as Paczki Day in the region).
In Russian cuisine, the word "pączki" transformed into "пончики", ponchiki. The latter may refer to both "pączki" and 'pirozhki'. In Ukrainian cuisine they are called "пампушки", pampushky.
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