Happy Paczki Day!

At first glance, paczki (plural of “paczek”) look like ordinary jelly doughnuts, but they are so much more. These Polish pre-Lenten treats are so special that there’s even a holiday named after them.

“The day before Lent begins is not Mardi Gras—it’s Paczki Day,” says Jann Soltis of Livonia, Michigan, who remembers going with her mom to the local bakery to buy the pastries every year.

Paczki Day traditionally falls on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday in Poland. However, most immigrants who settled the Great Lakes region in the late 19th century eventually adopted Fat Tuesday (“Mardi Gras”) from the French for their celebration.

In any case, the idea behind making and consuming paczki is to use up all the lard, sugar, and fruit before the fasting season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

So in the days leading up to today, bakeries churn out thousands of paczki, dusted with confectioners’ sugar and overstuffed with custard or fruit preserves, such as blackberry, apricot, and prune.

“All the Polish bakeries in Detroit, Hamtramck, and the suburbs will work 24/7 to make and bake the paczki,” Jasia says. “People stand in lines from midnight or so on until the bakeries open at 4 a.m. to buy paczki by the dozens.”

If you happen to be in Amherst, Ohio, on Fat Tuesday, just follow your ears to Kiedrowski’s Simply Delicious Bakery, where the strains of live accordian music can be heard in the wee morning hours. Musician Ed Klimczak entertains the gathering crowd in front of the bakery with some polka tunes, while Owner Tim Kiedrowski passes by with a platter of paczki for customers to sample as they wait.

“The atmosphere and the music makes our paczki taste better,” he asserts. “And it puts me in a good mood.”

But beware, you may be having a great time eating them today, but these Polish pastry packs pounds on your paunch. One paczki is worth a whopping 21 points on the Weight Watchers diet.