All the best cuisines have their own version of the jelly donut. While there are slight differences among the sweet, filled pastries from different cultures, the Polish paczki stands perhaps in its own special corner, partly because it’s a special, rich donut that gets its own day of celebration. Yes, that’s right. It’s aptly called Paczki Day.
In Polish, paczki means package, and paczki (the plural for paczek) are the perfect package for sweet fillings. Raspberry-filled Polish paczki are on the more traditional side, but like other donuts, paczki can also be stuffed with things like lemon curd, custard, buttercream, and more. Unlike a standard jelly donut, however, paczki are made with a brioche-like dough. Professional baker Dobra Bielinski of Delightful Pastries in Chicago clearly laid out the differences between paczki and jelly donuts in an interview with NBC Chicago. “A doughnut has water, salt, sugar, yeast,” she said. “Paczek has eggs, yolks, lemon oil, milk, butter, and lots of eggs. You can see the difference.” This mixture of ingredients results in a dense, flavorful, and rich pastry that “doesn’t collapse” when you eat it and instead “fluffs right up,” according to Bielinski.
But the dough isn’t the only difference. While many jelly donuts are covered in powdered sugar or granulated sugar, paczki are coated in a thin glaze. And the fillings are often a little more complex than just regular jelly. Their special fruit preserves may be made with orange peel, lemon peel, or even rose flavoring.
Jelly donuts from around the world
You can travel the world and find a jelly donut wherever you go! In Jewish communities, fried sufganiyot are made during Hanukkah celebrations, but unlike paczki, they are traditionally topped with powdered sugar or rolled in granulated sugar. In Germany, these sugary goodies are called krapfen or Berliners. Italy has bomboloni, a filled donut traditionally stuffed with pastry cream. Malasadas are Portuguese in origin but extremely popular in Hawaii and come with all sorts of fillings, including guava, lilikoi (passion fruit), custard, chocolate, and more. Australian hot-jam donuts say it all in the name. And of course, there’s the standard jelly donut sold at donut shops all across the United States.
If there’s one thing everyone from everywhere can agree on, it’s that soft, fluffy, fried dough stuffed with sweet fruit jam and coated in some sort of sugary-sweet layer is a delicious combination. The Polish paczki offers something slightly different from many of the others — it’s an iconic pastry with a depth and complexity of flavors and a rich history in Polish-American culture. This Paczki Day, do yourself a favor and find a Polish bakery near you.
