celebrate – Marie's Donut Diaries

I had some unexpected, very limited edition donuts this afternoon at the 25th Annual Zabawa Polish Heritage Festival. For pretty much the first time in a month I decided to leave my house for a social outing with my husband ❤ ❤ ❤ following the lure of handmade pierogis. We navigated to the east side for the weekend festival and stood in lines and blah blah, ate the pierogis, and saw only people I liked so overall it was a success. Since my pregnant body only lets me out of the house for an hour or so, we were in and out and stopped to get pie before exiting the festival. But it wasn’t pie time – there were donuts! Paczki Polish Doughnuts to be specific. We got eight more food tickets and I was then the proud owner of three of these powdered sugar concoctions.

The Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church where the 25th Annual Zabawa Festival is being held in Erie, PA

I was already in festival/fair/amusement park mode just from the energy of the crowd – some rude people, some drunk people, families, and so on – and then add the food and I was ready for Paczki Polish Doughnuts to finish off the day. They are basically (or essentially…I guess exactly?) fried dough covered with powdered sugar. What set them apart from regular funnel cakes and fried food fare was the denseness of the dough. They were similar to NOLA style beignet thickness, but were soft and not crunchy. I also enjoyed that there was minimal grease residue that often can ruin a funnel cake. To top it off they were served hot, which enhances many donuts and I believe is the case here as well. Overall these donuts were sweet, doughy, fried to perfection, and a good once a year treat. Try them yourself at the festival tonight until 10PM or tomorrow from noon to 6PM or forever hold your peace (or piece I guess) until next year (which is probably the only time most Erie area residents traverse to this neighborhood).

Bringing these beauties home

THE BREAKDOWN: Paczki Polish Doughnut

Store: 25th Annual Zabawa Polish Heritage Festival at Holy Trinity Parish

Address: 2220 Reed St, Erie, PA 16503

Cost: 3 donuts for $4 (8 tickets)

What they want to highlight: Raising money for Holy Trinity Parish while showcasing Polish heritage

What I thought was the highlight: Foood food and more fooooood

Rating out of 5 stars: 2.6

Would I buy it again?: Honestly, probably not. It was good for fried dough but the Cherry Pie looked super good that was selling alongside the donuts.

What could make it better?: Really nothing that seems feasible…maybe adding an amazing filling or a dipping sauce? But would that be traditional? Is this donut even traditional now? I guess I didn’t learn a lot about being Polish.

The sign that lured me

For fair-fried dough it was top notch. For a donut…it was a sweet dough with sugar so I’ll eat it.

Leave a comment about your love for fried dough or being Polish or festivals or really anything you want to talk about 🙂 Please and thanks.

So it’s been a donutful day and I think I’m done consuming, for now, so here’s the rundown of how I celebrated National Donut Day in 2018. There are FIVE STOPS so keep reading 🙂 Comment below and tell me how you celebrated.

First stop this morning was Mighty Fine donuts. There was nowhere to park on the street side near the shop. Good sign. The place was packed with frantic customers. Everyone seemed happy to be celebrating National Donut Day. I ordered a chocolate cream filled donut, which is pretty much my all-time favorite donut ever, and I have some disappointing news. It’s not the donuts fault 😦 But for some reason that I’ve decided can only be explained by reasoning that some higher power is punishing me….my favorite donut has not been appealing since I got pregnant. It really is tragedy at its finest. I could give the excuse that I need one every day because the baby likes chocolate cream filled donuts from Mighty Fine, but written like a Shakespearian Play, tragedy has struck my house and the baby DOESN’T like them. BUT I still loved the fritter I had the other day from Mighty Fine and I know it’s just my pregnant body being picky so I’m excited for when I can pick back up where I left off worshipping these donuts after I give birth to a better set of taste buds.

Lots of traffic at 26th and Parade today.

The less photographed Mighty Fine sign. Couldn’t get a better pic cause too much traffic.

Again my weak photo skills don’t capture the bustle of the donut shop but It was full of donut lovers and people being rude 🙂 Thankfully the servers were nice and pleasant. Thank you for everything you do for me Mighty Fine 🙂 ❤

The Chocolate Cream Filled Donut from Mighty Fine. A fan favorite. Crowd pleaser. My baby hates it 😦 I’m crying.

Next, I headed up to Krispy Kreme. They offered a totally free donut so I figured, why not? Plus I haven’t had one in a millennium and I’ve heard so much hate spewed about them since I had one last so I had to see if they weren’t as good as I remember.

UM IT WAS BETTER THAN I REMEMBER. I think the baby has a thing for glazed donuts because every one I have had she has loved. They had a ton of variety in their display cases but I wanted the hot glazed. (Is that still free every time the hot light is on?) Oh, it was hot. It was better than I remember. Sinful. I wanted to go back in, buy a whole dozen, go home and finish them off. It was amazing. Most worthwhile stop of the day. So when you see that hot light bling you best get yourself a hot glazed donut.

This is the sign to look for. The HOT NOW sign ❤ ❤ ❤ Lit up like me before I was pregnant.

Felt like home. Those are all hot donuts. My fat mouth is watering.

I ruined the perfection with my thumb. GO GET ONE OF THESE TODAY 🙂 FREE

I didn’t want to eat another donut and especially not one I had to pay for from Tim Horton’s. BUT I wanted to see if they had the “Gold Timbits” in Erie. So I asked the girl at the counter for Gold Timbits. She was like “Whhhhaaa….I don’t think so.” That’s what her face said. She was a little less talkative than that. How did I know this was going to be embarrassing?

Next, I went to Dunkin’ ’cause I woke up extra early and wanted an iced latte. I got the cookie dough iced latte and it was v delicious. Love their ice cream flavor drinks in the summer ❤ Since I got a free donut I decided to try their glazed. No comparison to Krispy Kreme but despite the minimal glaze and my general indifference towards their donuts it was better than expected. A win. And it was FREE (with my purchase). *Side note – THE APP WOULDN’T LET ME ORDER. Usual DD Dramatics. Please get your sh!t together.

Would you look at that? A glazed donut….

So I didn’t know if I would get hungry again after all that consumption, but so strange – I DID! So I ordered a Hawaiian “low fat” pizza or something online from Papa John’s to get their free donuts they made especially for National Donut Day. I thought they were going to be just plain dough with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on them. They were bite-sized little guys so if you eat the whole box it’s like totes no big deal. So I popped one and it was filled! I think it was apple. So I tried another! It was filled! I think with apple? So I tried another! I think it was filled but this time I thought it might be caramel??? I don’t know but I like it. So I dissected one. And two and three and decided it is some sort of super sweet syrupy thing that could be either apple and/or caramel but I didn’t see any additional filling that distinctively had fruit so I’m saying they are caramel filled. AND THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE FOR DINNER TONIGHT! I love their pizza, really I do, and so does the baby apparently. And this one time only donut was more than just hype – it was probably the best donut hole I’ve had since I was little and donut holes were really actually donut holes. Not these bs overcharged wads of dough not holed from a donut for sale nowadays.

“That’s a really great photo.” – Me

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The dawning of a new donut. 2. Lobsta donut. 3. What is that? 4. Another one?

If you have brains you will get Papa John’s tonight. Please, someone, tell me what that filling is. LIKE THIS POST! Comment below too!!

Tag: celebrate

Paczki Polish Doughnuts – Zabawa Polish Heritage Festival – Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Erie, PA

Mighty Fine Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts, Tim Hortons, Papa John’s – National Donut Day – Erie, PA