Nurturing my inner... fat tuesday

I certainly didn't start this tradition, so don't look at me.  Overeat a bunch, then Lent starts and you give up all your vices?  Such a strange way to kick off a fortnight of deprivation and self discipline.  My family taunts me with this food item year after year.  The paczki.  (Pronounced pont-ski.  Sounds like a fat word, doesn't it?!  "I'm feeling very paczki today.")

Paczkis are polish pastries filled with fruit or creme.  Like a doughnut.  Born from the tradition that Poland had many Catholics and they were "forbidden" to eat sugar, lard and other decadent ingredients during this time of fasting.  In the spirit of embracing other cultures, sounds like a great excuse to eat dessert, I decided this year I would celebrate with our Polish friends.  (I don't think I currently have any Polish friends per se, but after this post, I should!)

My family has many bakeries up in New England that make them, as they have a significant Polish population, but here, I had no recommendations on where to buy them.  (I asked, no one responded.)  Likely, because there is no demand for it in this area.  I had to settle on the grocery store, which wouldn't be as good as a specialty shop, but you do what you gotta do when desperate.

The Giant by me is the same chain as the Stop & Shop in Connecticut by my mother and she said they were advertised in her flyer this week.  I looked at my flyer too and there they were.  They even have a special box made just for them.

Will have to figure out what that little mark
under the A is called.

I should note that this is the only time of year they are out.  Which makes them special.  (And makes me particularly interested in them.)

Plenty to share.

What is different about these than our filled doughnuts is that they are more dense and cake like.  (As far as I can remember.  I'm not normally drawn to doughnuts, unless I was going to a special place that made some kind of unique one.)  Inside the paczkis I got were Bavarian Cream.

Mmm, powdered sugar on top.

They also come in raspberry, that I saw at the store.  But Polish bakeries use apples, strawberries or even prunes.  (Don't "yuck" me.  They are just plums.)  I enjoyed one yesterday on what I now consider my own personal Fat Saturday.  Which was okay, since I worked off that calorie bomb running earlier in the day.  Life isn't about deprivation, it's all about strategic calorie distribution in the end!

If a paczki is something you're interested in, better get moving.  You've only got a couple more days and then they are gone for another year.  And if you're someone who observes Lent, you might want to turn your perspective to adding something good for you into your life (like reading more, eating veggies, calling your mom once a week) instead of just removing something "bad" for a short bit that inevitably you'll go back to once Easter arrives.  You just might make a great new healthy, happy habit in 40 days.