Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsbp butter
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• a pinch of salt
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 teaspoon of yeast
• 2 cups of flour

Instructions

Step 1

Transcript: How to Make Paczki
Hi, I'm Chef John Mitzewich for About.com. Today I'm going to show you how to make a paczki (poohn-key), a delicious Polish pastry. Their very easy to make and it starts with a simple dough.

Step 2

Mix the Paczki Ingredients
I have 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tsbp butter, and then I'm going to heat 1/2 cup of milk in the microwave to about 110 degrees F., and pour it in. Add 1/4 tsp vanilla, a pinch of salt, and then 2 whole eggs.

The milk should be cool enough by now to not scramble the eggs, but if you need to let it cool a little, let it cool. Whisk those in, and add 1 teaspoon of yeast – whisk that in to dissolve, and then we're going to add, about a 1/2 cup at a time, 2 cups of flour.

Step 3

Knead the Packzi Dough
What you want to do is keep adding the flour until you have a really stiff dough and you can barely stir it. Then you're going to transfer this on to the board. So it's going to be about 2 cups, but you have to play it by ear. Just use enough flour to be able to knead it.

We want a really smooth, soft, sticky dough. We're going to use the traditional kneading method, using the palm of your hand. So I kneaded that for about 5 minutes. We're going to put that back in the bowl, cover it, and let that double in size, which will take about an hour to 1 1/2 hours.

Step 4

Shape the Packzi
And it will look like that. Our paczki dough is ready. We're going to pat it down on a lightly floured board. Roll it to about 1/2-inch thick. Use a little flour if you need too. Then cut out little round paczki shapes.

I got 12 from this batch. You can re-roll the excess dough to cut a few more. Let those rise for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. In the meantime, heat your oil to 350 degrees F. I'm just using regular vegetable shortening.

Step 5

Fry the Packzi
We're going to fry these for about 2 minutes per side. They're going to get a beautiful golden-brown. And that's about it. Fish those out with a strainer and let them cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before we fill them.

Step 6

Fill and Serve the Packzi
These are traditionally filled with fruit jelly. You use a pastry bag and tip, or if you don't have that, just simply cut a spoon-sized slit in the side, and shove in a spoon of jelly. These are great with any kind of fruit jelly or jam. Clean up the sides.

To finish, top with powdered sugar. Those look delicious, and let me tell you, they were delicious, really delicious. We Americans may call those jelly doughnuts, but in Poland it's a paczki. Such an easy recipe - I hope you give this a try. Enjoy!