PREPPING FOR PACZKI SEASON

Kiedrowski’s Simply Delicious Bakery whips up Fat Tuesday treat

For Kiedrowski’s Simply Delicious Bakery, 2267 Cooper Foster Park Road, paczki season is here.

The Amherst bakery began baking the sweet treats Feb. 4, and plans to bake non stop during business hours through Fat Tuesday, Feb. 16, said Tim Kiedrowski, owner.

“I make them until we close the doors Tuesday night, on Fat Tuesday,” Kiedrowski said.

It’s tradition for the business to start rolling out their paczkis about a week before Fat

Tuesday, he said.

As of about 3 p.m., Feb. 4, Kiedrowski said the bakery had made between 300 and 400 dozen paczkis.

Last year, he said the business put out a total of 9,300 dozen.

Focused on the traditional aspect of paczkis, Kiedrowski said he’s been perfecting his recipe for the past 38 years.

“Nobody made them then,” he laughed. “Then all of a sudden, everyone jumped on the bandwagon.”

Kiedrowski said his bakery has fielded orders placed in advance for the weekend

and plan to fill those, along with stocking its storefront as much as possible.

He said the business also looked into options to make the Paczki Ball a possibility this year. Unfortunately, Kiedrowski said there was no way to hold the event while honoring social distancing and the tradition of dancing.

“We looked into it and into every aspect of how we could do it,” he said.

This year, the bakery is looking to streamline the paczki pickup operations more amid the novel coronavirus

pandemic, Kiedrowski said.

A pickup station for orders made in advance will be located at the bakery’s next door neighbor Labcorp, 2269 Cooper Foster Park Road, he said.

The bakery also is looking to install a larger tent for those waiting in line, as well as implementing the normal heaters to make the line comfortable.

Kiedrowski said the paczki season always comes at the perfect time of year, when warm treats are a comfort during cold weather.

“It’s the best time of year to make them,” he said. “It’s a comfort food during a cold and crazy time of year.”

PHOTOS BY JORDANA JOY — THE MORNING JOURNAL Tim Kiedrowski, owner of Kiedrowski’s Simply Delicious Bakery at 2269Cooper Foster Park Road in Amherst, flattens out paczki dough Feb. 4 in preparation for paczki season.

Tim Kiedrowski presses and rolls out paczki dough in the business’s Fortuna machine Feb. 4.