Tips For Paczki Day Success: How And Where To Score Your Fat Tuesday Treats

For Catholics — especially Polish Catholics — it’s a special, once-a-year delicacy, traditionally made by bakers trying to use up all their eggs and lard before Lent begins.

For those who don’t celebrate Lent, Paczki Day coincides with Fat Tuesday, the last chance to indulge before fasting or giving up treats for 40 days and 40 nights. This year, it falls on Tuesday, Feb. 28.

What are paczki? To the uninitiated, a paczki looks like a doughnut — albeit a fancy doughnut. According to Ingram’s Busy Bee Bakery in Downers Grove, a paczki is “an extra large doughball, rich in egg yolks and deep fried just like a donut … topped with granulated sugar, powdered sugar or icing.”

The treats come packed with delicious filling in a variety of flavors. If you're wondering what the big deal is, just look at them:

Paczki popularity

In recent years, paczki have become a universal treat in Chicagoland — possibly thanks to media coverage of Paczki Day.

“Everyone knows about it now,” said Cathy De Avila, owner of Cathy’s Sweet Creations, 15515 S. Route 59 in Plainfield. “Every year it’s more popular.”

“I think it’s getting to be more mainstream,” said Bruce Aronson, owner of Donut Den, 3043 Theodore St. in Joliet. “This will be my eighth Paczki Day, and every year we’ve done significantly more. Everyone talks about Paczki Day.”

Last year, Cathy’s made 4,000 paczki and sold every last one of them. De Avila said the hard work begins the day before Paczki Day.

“We start Monday morning and work through the night,” filling the paczki by hand, De Avila said. Cathy’s will open at 5 a.m. — four hours earlier than normal — and remain open until 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Despite the hectic pace of Paczki Day, “It’s more of a really fun celebration,” said De Avila, who is gearing up for her 13th event. “Every year it’s more popular.”

Tips for Paczki Day success

To score some of the sweet treats, this is key: Get there early.

“Last year, we sold out early,” De Avila said. “If you come after two o’clock, there’s not too many — we encourage people to come early.”

You should also expect to deal with crowds. “There’s a line at the door at 5 a.m.,” De Avila said.

Pre-ordering is also key. Aronson said Donut Den only accepts pre-orders for orders of a dozen paczki or more. Last year, the shop had more than 150 pre-orders, he said.

“Last year I made my 74-year-old brother come in and work that day — he’s the order manager,” Aronson said. “It’s all hands on deck that day.”

Donut Den offers 10 varieties of paczki, from French silk and custard to fresh strawberry, cherry, apple and lemon.

An order form for both “standard” and “fancy” paczki can be found on the Cathy’s Sweet Creations Facebook page, or shoppers can call the store to place a pre-order. Pre-orders are due Saturday, according to Cathy’s.

Flavors include apricot, cream cheese, lemon, strawberry and the popular Bavarian cream.

Another tip from Aronson? He advises customers to eat the popular fresh strawberry paczki with care.

“We really pack them full of jelly,” he said. “I don’t recommend eating them in the car."

Where to get paczki

For some bakeries, Paczki Day is one-day only, but some — like Weber's Bakery in Chicago — are offering them already.

Here are some local bakeries offering up Paczki Day treats. If your favorite paczki place isn’t on the list, let us know in the comments.

• Cathy’s Sweet Creations, 15515 S. Route 59, Plainfield
• Donut Den, 3043 Theodore St., Joliet
• Home Cut Donuts, 815 W. Jefferson St., Joliet
• Milano Bakery, 433 S. Chicago St., Joliet
• Weber’s Bakery, 7655 W. Archer Ave., Chicago
• Zettlmeier Bakerei, 17016 Oak Park Ave., Tinley Park
• Orland Park Bakery, 14850 S. LaGrange Rd., Orland Park
• Ingram’s Busy Bee, 5126 Main St., Downers Grove
• Kirsten’s Danish Bakery, 94 Burr Ridge Parkway in Burr Ridge
• Fleckenstein’s Bakery, 199255 S. LaGrange Rd., Mokena
• Morris Bakery, 315 Liberty St., Morris

Image via Patch file