Local bakeries quickly sell out of pączki on Fat Tuesday

Joe Mazan KSTP

It’s a Fat Tuesday tradition for many — Pączki Day!

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The delicious Polish doughnut-like pastries are eaten on the day before Lent begins for Mardi Gras.

Kramarczuk’s in Minneapolis sold out of more than 3,000 pączki on Tuesday.

So what exactly is this Polish pastry eaten on a Catholic day of celebration?

“It’s pretty much an eastern European-style donut,” Nick Kramarczuk, of Kramarczuk’s, said. “A little bit richer dough, a little bit denser dough but pretty much a jelly donut.”

The tradition of making pączki on Fat Tuesday was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit. Eating those ingredients was forbidden during the season of Lent, which starts on Ash Wednesday.

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A package of paczki from Kramarczuk's are seen on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (Jim O'Connell/KSTP)