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Pączki are traditional Polish doughnuts are made from yeast-leavened dough that's rich in eggs, sugar, milk, and fats. A touch of spirit, such as rum, is often added to the dough for pączki to prevent the absorption of oil during frying. They are darker and larger than their Austrian cousin krapfen and often ball-like in shape rather than round.
Traditional fillings are plum preserve and rose jam. They are placed at the center of the dough and then wrapped around it to make a ball-like shape. Pączki are much more than just a tasty treat; they hold cultural significance in Poland and among Polish communities worldwide.
Ashkenazi in origin, the Jewish pastry known as rugelach is made by rolling a triangle of dough around a filling, resulting in crescent-shaped pastries. Alternatively, the dough can be rolled in the form of a strudel or a nut roll which is then sliced prior to baking.
The dough can be made with sour cream or cream cheese, but the dairy ingredients can be omitted, while the fillings can vary from nuts and raisins to fruit preserves. These delectable pastries are traditionally eaten on Hanukkah, but they can also be bought all year round in cafes and bakeries.
This elegant, rose-shaped dessert is prepared with the same sweet pastry for the Polish faworki, only shaped like a rose. Due to its typical shape and the tradition of making it during the carnival season, this sweet treat was named róża karnawałowa, meaning carnival rosette.
Each carnival rosette consists of three or five pastry disks of different diameters that are stacked on top of each other, with the smallest one on top, and with small slits on the outer edges. Once fried, the dessert is usually dusted with powdered sugar and adorned with a dollop of jam or a small cherry in the center.
Polish faworki are crispy deep-fried pastries that are very similar to angel wings in taste and appearance. They are made with a thick and elastic dough consisting of egg yolks, flour, cream, and different flavorings. Rolled into thin, rectangular shapes, each piece is twisted in a form that resembles decorative bows.
When fried, the pastry turns into a crispy, light, and airy treat, which is usually generously dusted with powdered sugar. Faworki are typically prepared for special occasions and traditionally enjoyed as a luscious delicacy on Fat Thursday, the last day of the carnival season.
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Called rurki or rurki z kremem in Poland, this sweet specialty is a type of cream roll consisting of thin pastry that’s typically filled with whipped cream or pastry cream. It is often dubbed torpedo dessert due to its characteristic shape, and apart from Poland, there’s also a long-standing tradition of preparing this dessert in other countries.
The origins of rurki are often associated with Türkiye and Bulgaria, where the dessert is known as torpil tatlısı and funiiki s krem, respectively. There are many variations of this sweet delicacy regarding the ingredients used for its preparation, the appearance, texture, and flavor of the rolls, and the type of cream used for filling the pastry.
Rogal świętomarciński, also known as St. Martin's croissant or St. Martin's roll, is a filled croissant in a coating of icing with chopped nuts sprinkled over it. It gets its name from the traditional baking and eating of the rolls on Saint Martin's Day for 150 years up to this day in the city of Poznań and some districts in the Wielkopolskie Voivodship in Poland.
According to a traditional tale, the croissants date back to the days of the 1683 siege of Vienna when king Jan Sobieski and Poland's hussars defeated the Turks in a battle and bakers started to make the croissants to keep the victory in public memory, while the Turkish crescent contributed to the shape of the final product.
MOST ICONIC Rogal świętomarciński
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