GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Most know it as Fat Tuesday, but to a lot of West Michigan, it's known as Paczki Day.
That's also the busiest day of the year for Sandy's Donuts. The shop is bringing in lots of extra hands to make paczki non-stop starting Sunday ahead of the holiday.
Mike Hoezze, owner of Sandy's Donuts, has been making these sweet treats for nearly twenty years. "Fat Tuesday, we probably make twelve-thousand, but twenty-thousand probably through the course of the week."
Paczki have deep Polish roots and date back to the middle ages. The treats were created to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit before the beginning of Lent - the 40 days of fasting before Easter Sunday.
Paczki used to be stuffed with pork fat but the more modern recipe uses various fruit and custard fillings.
How are paczki different than donuts? The difference is in the dough.
"It is a little bit thicker and richer dough," added Hoezze.
The dough is cut and left in a proofing box to allow it to rise, then fried on both sides for three to four minutes. Once the pastry has cooled, it is filled and coated in either sugar or powdered sugar.
It may be Fat Tuesday, but go easy on the paczki.
"The average paczki is probably four-to-five-hundred calories and 25 grams of fat," said Hoezze.
Get your paczki order in for Tuesday, March 5. You can reach Sandy's Donuts at (616) 453-4259.
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