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- Pączki Day, known as Fat Tuesday, is being celebrated on March 4, 2025.
- New Palace Bakery, a family-owned Polish bakery in Hamtramck, offers pączki and other baked delights year-round.
- The bakery will open at 3 a.m. on Pączki Day, and close between 6-8 p.m., depending on supply.
It’s that time of year again. Deep fryers sizzle and sweet aromas waft the crisp, March morning air luring crowds to bakery doors at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday, all for a taste of pączki.
Although it’s a day of sweets for others, for Suzy Ognanovich, owner of the Hamtramck’s New Palace Bakery, it’s a two month process culminating in a reunion of sorts.
“All our friends are our family, our customers are our family, and we all kind of get together and everybody helps us out,” Ognanovich said.
Founded in 1908, New Palace Bakery is a family-owned business, with its pączki recipe passed on from generation to generation. While they do make the traditional flavors, like prune, they also make sure to introduce a new flavor each year. This year’s is called “cook-zki.”
“So, there's cookie butter buttercream inside with the cookie crumbs,” Ognanovich said. “And on top there's a little bit of buttercream and crumbs as well and powdered sugar sprinkled.”
If cookies or prunes aren’t your thing, Ognanovich still has you covered with a variety of fruit, custard and chocolate fillings. There are also other Polish desserts, like coffee cakes, pies and angel wings.
According to Ognanovich, the bakery gets customers from all over the state, and beyond, who want to try their pączki.
“We have a lot of customers coming from the Toledo area, up north, and we also ship out our pączki,” Ognanovich said.
The Origin of Pączki
Traditionally, pączki was one way for Christians to use up fatty ingredients from the pre-Lenten season, according to Micheline Maynard, an author, journalist, and editor of the CulinaryWoman Newsletter on Substack. Fat Tuesday, also recognized as Pączki Day or Mardi Gras, was the last day one could eat meat and dairy before refraining for the duration of Lent.
“We've been through the big holidays,” Maynard said. “You know, there's a space between Pączki Day and Easter. So, I think people are getting that last treat in before Lent, and, also, kind of time to wind down until the spring holidays dial up.”
Metro Detroit has a vibrant Polish American community. Once pączki became popular in the Detroit area, it quickly spread to Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and the rest of the state.
Maynard said the Polish pastry traditionally comes with strawberry, cream, prune or blueberry fillings, but that didn’t stop variations.
According to Maynard, around two decades ago, bakeries decided they wanted to go further with pączki, turning it into a culinary canvas. Now, one might see layers and decorations on top, making it more like a dessert than a doughnut.
“I think the reason that we're seeing more flavors is that people just, in general, are more adventuresome with the way they eat,” Maynard said.
Calling it the “Big Mac” of pastries, Maynard said there isn’t much that makes pączki different from doughnuts or sufganiyot, a Jewish pastry enjoyed during Hanukkah.
“It's just the sort of the festiveness and the fact that because it's become such a big deal that you have to order them in advance,” Maynard said.
Ognanovich noted that a traditional pączki is more spongy and made with richer ingredients.
A Look into the Business Side
Bakers arrive to prepare the pączki at 3 a.m. and leave between 6-8 p.m. in order to make enough sweets to meet the demand. Ognanovich said she’s never kept track of how many pączki the bakery makes. The kitchen operates continuously all day to keep up with demand. However, meeting demand has become a bit more expensive.
According to Maynard, prices of eggs and chocolate have gone up, increasing the price of pączki.
“There might be some bakeries that take a loss on their pączki this year, but hopefully not too much of a loss,” Maynard said. “And, I hope people understand how much prices have gone up for them.”
Ognanovich said the bakery is doing its best to keep prices as low as they can for pączki and Pączki Day.
“It's a tradition and we want everybody to be able to, you know, have some of that special memory each year,” Ognanovich said.
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