What Is a Paczki and Where to Find in Yakima?

I do love an indulgence every now and again.

Though these paczki aren't as popular as they are in other parts of the country I was a little surprised to see them here in Washington State.

Not the first time I've seen them in our area, but very welcome to of course I had to grab a box of 4 as this is how they came.

...but, what are they, exactly?

What is Paczki

In the easiest terms possible, it's a filled doughnut.

You take a doughnut, fill it with something like cream or fruit and, congratulations, you have a paczki.

Well, kind of. The ingredients aren't exactly the same.

Once you sink your teeth into one of these, you'll feel the quality difference. Paczki is a more dense dough and just seems higher-quality ingredients.

The story goes these were made as a way to use up whatever ingredients they still had like eggs and butter leading into lent.

Paczki are still often eaten on Fat Tuesday to keep that tradition alive. Though not as popular in the Pacific Northwest, these are pretty popular in the Midwest like Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio.

In fact, many in places like Detroit and Chicago don't call it Fat Tuesday but instead call it Paczki Day.

How do you pronounce paczki

It's another question you may have. These doughnuts of Polish decent have kind of an odd combination of letters we're not using to seeing together.
Which makes its pronunciation even more unique as some letters aren't pronounced while a few letters that aren't even in the word pronounced.

It's like poon-ch-key.

I found these ones at Fred Meyer. They were in the doughnut section of the bakery which makes sense. They had a few options for filling. The ones in the photo here are 'boston cream' filling so it's like a standard custard and amazing. Looking forward to grabbing more, maybe strawberry next time.