Jenny's Noodle

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Happy Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Paczki Day!

What's a paczki? If you don't live in an area with a large Polish community (Detroit, Boston, Cleveland), you may be wondering. Paczki (pronounced poonch-key) are doughnut-like pastries, typically filled with jelly or Bavarian cream, and sometimes glazed.

Paczki Day is celebrated on Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday) because the ingredients — lard, sugar, eggs, fruit, etc — were traditionally forbidden from being consumed during Lent.

But beware! As delicious-looking as they are, these Polish treats are notoriously unhealthy — each paczki is estimated to be a whopping 400 calories and 25 grams of fat! So although they invaded my office this morning, I stayed far away.