Raspberry-Filled Polish Paczki (Doughnuts) Recipe

While pączki may not be too well-known in some parts of the U.S., these jelly-filled doughnuts are pretty popular in any area with a large population of Polish descent. In fact, in many major metropolitan areas such as Milwaukee, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras actually goes by the name of Pączki Day and is devoted to standing in line at a bakery to stock up on these sweet treats before consuming as many as possible. Another holiday when pączki is always on the menu is Dyngus Day, an after-Easter celebration of Polish culture in Buffalo, New York.

If you're not familiar with the Polish take on jelly doughnuts, recipe developer Katie Rosenhouse describes them as "light and airy" with "just enough sugar to balance the dough without competing with the sweetness of the jam filling." While she admits that glazed or powdered sugar-sprinkled pączki are traditional, she tells us, "I love mine dredged in cinnamon sugar" so she's including that as an option here. If cinnamon sounds good to you but you don't feel that it pairs too well with raspberry, she does say that you can really use any type of jam or even a custard filling. This means that you could fill the doughnuts with something like apple butter, instead.

To make the pączki dough, you'll need milk, yeast, granulated sugar, eggs (whole ones plus a few extra yolks), salt, flour, and butter. You're also going to need a neutral, high smoke point oil such as canola or vegetable for frying, plus some jam for filling and some powdered sugar (or cinnamon sugar) to sprinkle over the top of the doughnuts once they're done.

Heat up the milk until it's just lukewarm –- if you're using a thermometer, it should read anywhere between 105 and 110 F. Mix in the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar, then cover up the mixture with a piece of plastic wrap or a clean towel. Let it sit for 10 minutes so it can foam up, then stir in the rest of the sugar plus the eggs (extra yolks included), salt, and 5 ¼ cups of flour.

You can also stir in a tablespoon of vodka or rum at this point, although it's not necessary to do so. The booze won't be adding much flavor to the dough, but Rosenhouse does say that some people believe this addition may reduce the amount of oil soaked up by the pączki as they fry.

Knead the dough until it's smooth. If you are using a stand mixer to knead, use the low speed and the dough hook and count on the process taking about 5 to 6 minutes. If you're going old-school and kneading by hand, it might take a bit longer. If the dough is sticky, add a tablespoon at a time of the remaining flour, but don't be too quick to do so. Rosenhouse notes that this extra flour "will change the final texture of your doughnuts," but says that as you continue to knead, the dough will develop gluten on its own and become less sticky.

Once the dough is sufficiently un-sticky, start adding the butter a pat at a time, Keep kneading for another 4 to 5 minutes until all the butter is in the dough and the dough had a nice uniform consistency. Cover the dough with a clean towel or plastic wrap, then let it sit for 60 to 90 minutes until the volume has doubled.

Roll out the dough on a surface sprinkled with a light dusting of flour. When the dough is ½-inch thick, cut it out into 3-inch circles. If you have no suitably-sized cookie or biscuit cutter, a drinking glass will work just fine. Take your dough rounds and put them on a baking sheet or similar flat surface, preferably paper-covered and/or flour-dusted to prevent them from sticking. Cover them with a towel or plastic wrap and let them rise once more for about 30 to 45 minutes until they get puffy. When you poke the dough at this point, it should bounce back like a marshmallow.

Fill a heavy pot or deep fryer with 2 to 3 inches of oil and heat it to 350 F. Fry the doughnuts in batches of 2 to 4, depending on how large your pot is, then flip them over and keep cooking them until they are golden brown on both sides. If they brown too quickly, turn down the heat. If the first batch doesn't turn out quite right (too heavy or too brown), Rosenhouse suggests that you might want to turn off the heat and let the rest of the doughnuts rise for more time before you attempt to fry a second batch.

Once the doughnuts are cooked, if you prefer a cinnamon sugar coating you should apply it right away while they're still hot. If you're team powdered sugar, though, they'll need to cool down first.

When the pączki are all cooked and cooled, they'll need to be filled. If you have a piping bag, with a star or filling tip, use this to insert the jam. If you don't, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. In this case, though, you'll need to cut or poke a hole into each doughnut in order to insert the jam. When each doughnut is filled, sprinkle it with powdered sugar. (Or not, if you already applied cinnamon.)

"These are definitely best the day of frying," Rosenhouse says, but you might not be able to consume 24 jelly doughnuts in the space of a single day. That's okay, though, since you can always freeze the leftovers, then heat one or two up in a 400 F oven for a few minutes the next time you want a sweet snack.