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Colozza Bakery's cannoli paczki, center, with the butterscotch paczki, left, and tiramisu paczki.
(Laura DeMarco, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- You may have read about it on the Internet, or heard rumors. Well, it's true.
And the proof is in the, er, paczki at Colozza's Bakery in Parma's Polish Village area. What better place for a cannoli paczki than an Italian shop in a Polish area?
"I try to do a few new flavors every year, and we thought cannoli-flavored might be cool this year," says owner Angelo Colozza. "Between the people who work here and the customers, we came up with it together."
Colozza also added tiramisu, Dulce de Leche and butterscotch paczki flavors this year. They're all selling well, he says, but the cannoli is the winner. (See the full Paczki Guide here.)
"Everyone likes cannoli. I make a zillion of them a year, so I knew this would be a great fit here."
And no wonder. Colozza's light and airy paczki is the perfect pillow for his rich, custardy cannoli filling with bits of chocolate.
The Italian-accented tiramisu is also a delight, with a dusting of powdered sugar and cocoa on the outside providing a nice balance to the rich mascarpone and coffee-flavored cream.
These are just a few of the 11 paczki flavors Colozza's will be selling up to and past Fat Tuesday. They discontinued the traditional prune and poppy seed donuts this year, but will make poppy seed on special order.
"They were traditional, but were our worst sellers," says Colozza.
The cannoli paczki, meanwhile, has become the bakery's top seller - in just its first year.
"It's a phenomenon," says Colozza.
Colozza's is at 5880 Ridge Road, Parma. Call 440-885-0453.