Photos by Caitlin Abrams
Donuts
Grandma G: Victoria Gonsior may have brought the paczki recipe with her to the United States when she immigrated from Poland. The family also still makes her silver dollar–sized gingersnaps.
Family Affair
Courtesy of Dorothy Ann’s
Walter Grochowski
Walter Grochowski (pictured here in a 1950s family photo) bought the original Dorothy Ann Bakery in 1951 with his wife, Agnes. Their daughter Joan took over the bakery in 1982 with her husband, Steve Conway, and they run it today with daughter Colleen Cicalello. They still make some original Dorothy Ann recipes, including the Vienna bread, but the paczki recipe came from Agnes’s mom, known as Grandma G.
The Definitive Minnesota Paczki
Paczki
Sold every Friday and Saturday, these paczki are part of the Polish Minnesota tradition. The bakery also currently supplies Kramarczuk’s. If you’ve ever had paczki in Minnesota, odds are they were made at Dorothy Ann.
Homemade Custard
Courtesy of Dorothy Ann’s
Custard
Not many bakeries make their own custard, but the Dorothy Ann crew cooks their own from scratch in giant 50-gallon batches. Try it in the custard paczki (the most popular) or in the chocolate custard paczki (delightful).
Flavor Country
Jelly Filled Donut
Flavors and fillings include plain (Grandma G’s favorite), custard, chocolate custard, lemon, Black Forest (cherry with chocolate on the outside), traditional Polish prune, apple, fresh-sliced strawberries, and jam flavors, including tart raspberry and intense blueberry. “People always ask which is my favorite—I like them all,” says Joan Conway. “Just don’t eat the blueberry in your car; that’s asking for trouble.”
Not an Ordinary Donut
Dorothy Ann’s paczki are not like every other jelly donut. They have a fine, dense crumb, like the cake in a good Viennese yellow layer cake.
Fat Tuesday
Paczki's Packaging
Paczki are the traditional last big hurrah eaten before Ash Wednesday, which kicks off the fast of Lent that leads to Easter. That’s why you only see them one day a year at many bakeries. In Poland, and Chicago, a lot of people call Fat Tuesday Paczki Day. Want in on the tradition? Mark your calendar: Paczki Day 2024 will be February 13.
710 Commerce Dr., Woodbury, 651-731-3323
