Poi Malasadas Are a Must-Have at This Honolulu Bakery (2024)

FAQs

Poi Malasadas Are a Must-Have at This Honolulu Bakery? ›

Popular bakery for poi malasadas and banana bread in a lively, small setting.

Leonard's Bakery is a Portuguese bakery in Honolulu, Hawaii, known for popularizing the malasada. The fried pastry, slightly crispier and chewier than a doughnut and with no hole, is known as a cuisine of Hawaii.

Malasadas, as they are known in Hawaii, are a yeast-leavened doughnut enriched with eggs, butter, and sometimes evaporated or fresh milk. After frying, they are rolled in sugar.

It's an understatement to call malasadas part of Hawaii's culinary gifts. Ever since an influx of Portuguese farmers brought the recipe to the region at the end of the 19th century, these fried donuts have become a staple of Hawaiian pastry shops.

A malasada is a Portugese doughnut without a hole. We fry generously-sized balls of dough until it's golden brown on the outside and light & fluffy on the inside.

Leonard Rego - Owner - Leonard's Bakery Ltd.

The oldest continually operating bakery in America, Winkler Bakery is located inside Old Salem Museums & Gardens, the historic district of Salem dating back to 1766.

Hawaiian Malasadas taste best the day they are made. You can extend the shelf-life by storing the malasada in an airtight container, either at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you fill your Hawaiian Malasada, they will require refrigeration.

Although many think of a malasada as a Hawaiian doughnut, they in fact originated in Portugal. In the 19th century, the Hawaiian government encouraged immigrants familiar with sugarcane production to come to Hawaii and work. Portuguese laborers arrived and brought with them the malasada.

Haupia is the Hawaiian name for a traditional coconut pudding found throughout Polynesia.

Why are malasadas purple? ›

Poi is a starchy paste made from boiled and pounded taro root, regularly served as a side dish on the islands. A powdered version added into the batter (as well as the glaze) is the key to these deep-fried treats' tender texture and pretty purple hue.

In Portugal, Fat Tuesday is called Terça-feira Gorda. And that also marks the last day of the Carnival of Madeira. In order to use up all of the lard and sugar in the house ahead of Lent the tradition was to make malasadas with all of the butter and sugar they had.

The malasada, a small, deep fried dough confection, has become integrated into the broad spectrum of “local food.” The Portuguese sweet treat was first brought to Hawaii by Portuguese laborers from the Azores and Madeira Islands who came to work in the sugar plantations.

Malassadas is called by a lot of names: Filhos, Portuguese Donuts, Fried Dough or Beaver Tails.

In Hawaii, however, malasadas are often filled with tropical treats such as coconut pudding, guava cream or passion fruit curd. Although malasadas sound similar to beignets (the French fried dough dessert popular in New Orleans) and both are served on Mardi Gras, the dough differs.

BEING THE CAKE BOSS

Carlo's Bakery had always been well known for its incredible wedding cakes and over the years, Buddy's creations were frequently featured in bridal magazines.

After seeing Osito Bimbo – a bear with a baker's hat and apron – on a package of pastries or bread, many immediately recognize the Bimbo brand. Bimbo Bakeries is the largest bakery in the U.S., and the world, and is especially well-known among the Mexican and Latin American community.

The food giant Nabisco's factory in Chicago, USA is the largest bakery in the world. It occupies a staggering 170,000 square metres (approx. 1,800,000 square ft) and employs more than 1,400 people. The bakery produces billions of biscuits annually on more than a dozen ovens, each the length of a US football field.

Nabisco's 1,800,000-square-foot (170,000 m²) plant in Chicago is the largest bakery in the world, employing more than 1,200 workers and producing around 320 million pounds (150 million kilograms) of snack foods annually.