What does it take to become staff?

To all of you who live in Michigan or the Chicago area, enjoy a paczki for me!! I'll be enjoying my own :) In case you need proof I actually made paczkis, here are a few pictures.

I haven't really deep-fried much in my life. And as my friend Jen Ponder says, "Everyone has to deep-fry something in their life. Now is your time". Well, Sunday was my time. Look at those beauties bobbing around in the liquid heart-attack.


See, I forgot the powdered sugar. They were still good anyway.


I am also dealing with some remorse that I am not voting today. Here it is, "Super Tuesday" and I am making it mediocre, average Tuesday. I, the one-time political science professor, am not voting. Bad example.

Also, I, in Nehemiah 2 fashion, presented my boss with a list of dates I wanted off from work. And like the true Artaxerxes she is, (just kidding), she granted them all to me without blinking an eye. I thought "hey, I'm a valuable employee, perhaps she will beg me to stay, to not take time off." But no. Have fun. Later gator. I think my first indicator should have been the fact she told me about the staff meeting and told me "You can come if you want". Apparently working there 4 days a week doing all of the yucky jobs no one else wants to do still doesn't qualify me as a mandatory staff-meeting-attender. After all, only staff are allowed. No, I'm not bitter.

Anyway, this does help me want to do exceptionally well for my interview that I have tomorrow. Even if the interview doesn't go well, this week I get to take Sabbatical and work at a flower shop for the next week or so.

I have Paczkis in my kitchen!

And, unfortunately, no elves made them for me. I used the recipe Erinn sent me from recipezaar.


Authentic Polish Paczki Recipe

1½ hours 30 min prep (yeah right, it took me like 4 hours)

Change to: paczki US Metric

12	egg yolks (or six whole eggs, see note) (I used 6 whole eggs, and it was still pretty eggy)
1	teaspoon salt
2 (1/4	ounce) packages active dry yeast
1/4	cup warm water
1/3	cup room temperature butter
1/2	cup sugar
4 1/2	cups flour
1/3	cup rum or brandy(I used rum - the light, clear kind)
1	cup scalded whipping cream (I heated it to almost boiling)
1 1/2	cups preserves or cooked prunes or apples or canned poppy seed filling (I used blackberry preserves)
	oil (for deep frying, The old-timers used lard, but vegetable oil will work(I use peanut oil.) I used normal vegetable oil. I think canola.

• Deep Fry Rolls/Biscuits
  
  
  
• Polish Rolls/Biscuits
  
  
  

1. Beat egg yolks with the salt in the small bowl of an electric mixer at high speed until the mixture is thick and piles softly, about 7 minutes.
2. Soften yeast in warm water.
3. Cream butter, add sugar to it gradually, beating until fluffy.
4. Slowly beat in the softened yeast.
5. Stir one fourth of the flour into the yeast mix.
6. Add rum/brandy and half of the cream.
7. Beat in another fourth of the flour.
8. Stir in remaining cream.
9. Beat in half of the remaining flour and then the egg yolk mixture.
10. Beat for 2 minutes.
11. Gradually beat in the remaining flour until the dough blisters. (I think I added another cup of flour - it was really sticky)
    
12. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. (I covered mine with a towel instead of plastic wrap)
    
13. Set in a warm place to rise. (I turned my oven to "warm" and let it rise in there)
    
14. When it has doubled in bulk, punch it down. (I think I added almost another cup of flour here because it was so sticky!)
    
15. Cover and let rise again until doubled.
16. Punch it down again.
17. Roll dough on a floured surface to about 3/4 inch thickness.
18. Cut out 3 inch rounds using a cookie cutter or glass.
19. Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of half the circles. (I skipped steps 19, 20, 21 & 22 - the next four steps - until "cover the paczki...")
    
20. Brush the edges with water. skipped
    
21. Top with the remaining rounds. skipped
    
22. Seal the edges very well. skipped
    
23. Cover the paczki on a floured surface.
24. Let rise about 20 minutes.
25. Deep fry in the hot fat until they are golden brown on both sides. (Just light brown- they'll continue to brown a little after you take them out)
    
26. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with honey. (I forgot this step completely - oops!)
    
27. Put preserves in ziplock bag, and cut one edge on an angle to make a "piping bag"
28. Once cooled, make a small incision on the side of your paczki. Insert the piping bag and squeeze as much of the preserves as you desire (about a few TBSPs, or in my case, as much as you can fit in there!)
    

Oh how I love you, Polish doughnut ...

Image taken from SixDegreesofInspiration

Check them out for more... inspiration

Back in high school, for some sort of fundraiser, a few parents (aka Amie's mom) would sell paczki's on Fat Tuesday. What, you beg, is a paczki, besides impossible to spell? Well, a paczki (prounounced "poonch-key") is basically a jelly-filled doughnut. And it's delicious. Possibly so delicious because there's alcohol in the dough.

So, every Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras season, I start craving paczki's. And I can't ever find them. Not even in DC with my friend Ms. Kazimierczak's (born in Poland, life of the DC Polish community) help.

Thank heaven my friend Erinn found me a recipe online. If I'm brave enough, I just might try it!! She also said that paczkis are quite similar to German fastnacht, again, she provided the recipe. She was acute enough to point out "Fastnachts use mashed potatoes and paczkis use rum. Therefore, Polish cooking might be much cooler than German." And overall, because Erinn and I judge an entire country's cuisine by their doughnuts, I am in full agreement!

Oh, and Karl Rove, perhaps you should contact Dan and Amber to do some publicity for you. Check out this little ditty for Ron Paul... (thanks Joey for posting it)



HWotD:
ʻāina - land, earth, literally "the thing that nourishes, feeds" (ʻāi means food)
"aye (drawn out)-nah"

* As always, make sure you have all of the okinas(') and kahako's (-) they are very important!!