RACINE — Fat Tuesday is one of the busiest days of the year for bakeries across Wisconsin.
At Busias XOXO in downtown Racine, the day also carries personal meaning for owner Amy Valukas.
For Valukas, Fat Tuesday begins with memories of her busia — the Polish word for grandmother.
“My busia — which means grandma in Polish — she’s what drew me to baking,” Valukas said. “When I was little, I’d sit and watch her bake. Everything she made was delicious.”
Pierogis. Cookies. And most famously, paczki.
“Every busia out there did not measure,” she laughed. “It took a long time to perfect the recipe.”
Paczki — rich, filled pastries traditionally eaten on Fat Tuesday — mark the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent in the Christian calendar.
Historically, the day was used to prepare for a season of fasting by using up ingredients such as butter, sugar, and eggs.
“Paczki, for me, you know you’re going to give something up, so you want to have something sweet,” Valukas said. “Maybe six or seven sweet.”
But this year’s observance carries added significance.
Valukas’ husband, John, whom she calls her “paczki partner,” died nearly three years ago. The couple used to wake up early together to make the treat.
“My husband was my paczki partner. We’d get up super early and do paczki together,” she said. “This morning was a little hard for me.”
After his death, Valukas closed their first Busias XOXO location in Muskego and stepped away from the business.
Then, in 2025, she opened the Racine storefront, making this her first Fat Tuesday selling paczki in the new space.
“He would want me to carry on,” she said. “I’m hopeful he’s sitting in his perch in the clouds smiling at me.”
The bakery plans to sell paczki from 7 a.m. to noon on Tuesday until they sell out. Flavors include apple cinnamon, lemon, and cream custard.
Each pastry is handmade and takes several hours to mix, rise, and fry, she said.
“Just being in the space, having people pre-order or stop in to get them, it means the absolute world,” she said.
For Valukas, Fat Tuesday represents both a Polish tradition and a continuation of family recipes — first learned from her busia, later shared with her husband, and now carried forward with her daughter in Racine.
“Heritage and passing that on is so important in today’s world,” she said.
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