Back to business and not the healthy kind – today we are celebrating Fat Thursday or ‘Tłusty Czwartek’ as it is called in Poland. A day for eating doughnuts, or Polish pączki, as well as sweet pastry twists known as chrusty, or faworki and as much sweet food as you can get your hands on.
Fat Thursday is, in fact, celebrated in many countries all over the world – in Italy my sister is celebrating Giovedì Grasso and the start of Carnevale. In Germany, you might finish work early and get an unofficial holiday. Fat Thursday officially signals the start of lent in the Christian calendar – you try and use up all the butter, sugar and eggs in the house that you are not supposed to eat until Easter Sunday and in some cases, you also give up meat – carnevale actually means ‘to say farewell to meat’. In England, we wait until Shrove Tuesday, of course, and eat pancakes. Either way, there’s no better day, or excuse to miss out on eating Polish doughnuts, a taste of my childhood, traditionally filled with plum jam or rose petal jam and drizzled with icing. Today, I’ve been invited to my local Polish delicatessen to eat doughnuts with them (Poles are incredibly friendly and hospitable!) and I’ve baked a delicious Polish sernik or cheesecake and lots of other Polish treats to eat with friends tonight.
Polish doughnuts, Pączki
Polish Sweet Treats
In the meantime, if you want to try your hand at making some Polish sweet treats, I’d recommend:
- Chruściki or Faworki (Angel Wings) by Margot at Coffee and Vanilla and also, read Margot’s post on Pancake Day here
- Polish Doughnuts (Pączki) from Anula’s Kitchen
- Polish Pancakes with Sweet Cream Cheese by Ren
- Polish Apple Pancakes by Ren
- Blueberry and Vanilla Cheese Pancakes by Ren
- There are also lots of pretty amazing recipes for Tłusty Czwartek here by Kwestia Smaku (in Polish)
More sweet treats coming up…
Karpatka – Carpathian Mountain Cake
Sernik – Baked Polish Cheesecake
More of my sweet recipes
Hidden Apple, Cinnamon & Honey Cake
Mini Doughnuts with Chocolate Sauce for the Good Food Channel
Happy Doughnut Day!
Choclette says
Fat Thursday sounds like a great concept and I’d have been very happy to have joined in by eating any of the treats you’ve shown.
Ren says
Thank you Chocolette, perhaps chocolate filled doughnuts for you!
kellie@foodtoglow says
I am reading this at 7.15 am, hungry, and having to settle for porridge rather than a plum jam-filled doughnut, or slab of Karpatka. Jealous is an understatement 😀 It’s always good to learn about food traditions & this is one of the more delicious ones I’ve seen. And you are so right about Polish hospitality. My daughter was a flower girl in a wedding held in Krakow & the feasting & festivities went on for days. We were exhausted!
Ren says
Yes, ‘slab; is the appropriate word for the Carpatka, it looks like such a delicate cake but it’s filled with creme patisserie, so it is quite something! I bet your daughter looked so beautiful, did she have to wear a traditional Polish costume?
Andrea Mynard says
What a great excuse to eat doughnuts! I love the idea of a rose petal jam filling. But all your polish sweet treats look wonderful. You’re inspiring me to get baking.
Ren says
Yes the rose petal jam filling is a bot special, you have to find really untouched organic rose petals! A favourte preserve of many Polish grandmothers!
Aga says
Cudownie, że tu wpadłam!! Jest pięknie, jest pysznie! U mnie co prawda pączków dziś nie było ale szaleństwo w Warszawie na całego. Będę tu zaglądać. Podobają mi się polskie motywy i cudowne fotki. Pozdrawiam baardzo!!
Ren says
Dziekuje bardzo Aga, bardzo milo cie poznac xx
Mark Willis says
Ah, this explains a lot. At work today one of my delegates came in clutching a “Polish doughnut” which he had been given by a friend (presumably Polish), but was unable to explain its significance. Now I know.
Ren says
This made me laugh so much, at least now you know why!
Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla says
I meant “wonderful” of course! 🙂
Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla says
Oh, they look sooo yummy! Just send my husband to get some ready ones, I’m fed up with deep frying after making faworki couple of days ago 🙂 Have a wondeful Tłusty Czwartek!!!
p.s. Added link to this post on Bigos 🙂
Ren says
Thanks Margot, yes, ready ones are often the best quick idea! Hope you enjoyed Tlusty Czwartek and thank you so much for adding the post to Bigos UK xx
Sophie {The Cake Hunter} says
Those doughnuts looks absolutely gorgeous. I love learning about bakes from all over the world, it’s fascinating.
Ren says
Thanks Sophie, a friend of mine just emailed me to say a Polish collleague had brought in doughnuts for her work colleagues – now that’s a nice idea! :-))