Happy Belated Paczki Day! Fat Tuesday for some Americans means consuming king cake but for me, it means I get to eat paczki doughnuts (which has been a tradition since 2013, thanks to my time living in Buffalo).
This year with extra time on my hands, I decided to attempt to make them again (2015's homemade paczki were quite a disaster). I waited six years for redemption. And I hoped that being six years wiser, I had gained more knowledge on cooking and baking to make some passable paczki. (All I wanted was a fluffy doughnut with a beautiful ring in the middle from proper proofing).
This time around I decided to find a recipe that included booze since my first paczki had a boozy flavor (but upon reflection, that might have been from the filling, still unsure about that but nevertheless it was amazing). That led me to this recipe from The Spruce Eats.
I also made these on the day Kansas City was doing rolling blackouts so my kitchen wasn't quite the ideal environment for proofing dough so I proofed the dough in a cold oven but with the oven light on (it created the perfect space for proofing).
The Recipe: Traditional Polish Paczki from The Spruce Eats. I tried to make a cardamom cream filling (only met with mediocre results) and also used raspberry preserves as fillings.
The Results: I'm so pleased to report that my paczki were fluffy and had the pleasing white ring around the doughnut. They didn't become a stale mess once cooled like they did a few years ago. Using a candy thermometer and waiting for the oil to reach the proper temperature between batches really helped. (I have watch many a doughnut video on the Bon Appetit Channel recently so this has helped greatly).
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