It’s time to eat the donuts! Tuesday, March 5 is Paczki Day. Paczki are those delicious jelly-filled megadonuts that folks binge on before the start of Lent in the Christian faith. Paczki are similar to jelly donuts, but much richer. Traditional Polish paczki are made with a very rich, sweet, heavy yeast dough consisting of eggs, butter and milk. Rumor has it that some paczki may contain 450 calories and 15 to 24 grams of fat. The most popular fillings are strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, plum, prune, apple and custard.
Paczki Day (or Mardi Gras, which is Fat Tuesday in French) dates back to a centuries-old tradition of using up all the fat in the house before the period of Lenten fasting begins. It’s a day of celebration and opportunity to enjoy favorite foods that one might give up for the Lenten season, or use up the food so none is wasted during the 40 days of Lent. Some also call it Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, because pancakes are a meal that can use up all the eggs and milk in the house. Lenten traditions were more rigorous in the past and Christians were required to abstain from all meat and food that came from animals, such as milk, eggs and animal fats.
The following Warren bakeries are making paczki’s this year:
Tringali’s Bakery
29100 Schoenherr Rd.
Warren, MI 48093
Donut Hole
32187 Van Dyke Ave.
Warren, MI 48093
Donut Castle
11831 13 Mile Rd.
Warren, MI 48093
Donut Factory
28805 Mound Rd.
Warren, MI 48092
Special thanks to the Donut Hole for showing us how paczki are made! The Donut Hole has been open in Warren since 1979. They will be open for over 24 hours for Paczki Day, from Monday morning until 5 p.m. on Tuesday!