Malasadas

I am Portuguese and grew up on these homemade malasadas. I am very excited to try this recipe as my mom's recipe died with her. In reference to the earlier reviewer asking for more directions, after years of helping my mom with these, I can tell you this. The dough should be of a light and fluffy consistency (similar to pretzel dough)with a good deal of gluten for stretching and you should dip your hands in a bowl of milk prior to working with each ball of dough. This prevents any sticking and makes the dough more manageable. When starting, it's best to start with a ball of dough slightly smaller than a tennis ball. Holding the ball in your fingertips, thumbs on top, start stretching the dough with your middle finger tips from the underside center out. You should end up with piece of dough that is roughly the size and shape of a large slice of bread and almost see through in the middle with a thicker edge all along the sides. This outer rim/edge will fry to a golden brown and the inner thin piece will stay a pale color. This is the classic look of the Azorean malasadas. When turning them over in the oil, be careful not to pierce the dough or the oil will seep in and ruin the flavor and texture. I am giving this recipe 5 stars on nostalgia alone!

I use to live in Hawaii, on the Island of Oahu. I can personally tell you these Malasadas are outrageously DELICIOUS!

I give this on 5 stars for flavor. I did add quite a bit more flour to make a rollable dough. After the dough had risen once, I punched it down and divided it into two pieces. Each half I rolled into a rectagle about 1/4 inch thick. I cut each rectangle into squares, places them on parchment lined pans and let them rise again before frying. They were wonderful. We just got back from Hawaii and I was very pleased with the flavor of these. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

NO..No..No!!! Those of you who said to either throw the malasdas out if not eaten the day of baking or to save the dough PLEASE don't do this!!! I'm from the Azores and both of my grandmothers make malasadas on a monthly bases. The dough does not keep well in the fridge. If you have extra try this instead. Malasadas (once made) freeze well, this is why my grandmothers make them on a monthly bases. Second if they're a day old or older pop them in the micorwave for a couple of seconds this freshes them up but don't do it to long or wait long after you take it out to eat...if you do it becomes too chewy or even to hard to eat. If you want to try a little something extra when they're old add a little butter and sugar before microwaving, my sisters and I used to do this all the time for breakfast(ps. a good scoop of vanilla ice cream instead of sugar when they first come out of the frier is a great treat, too). To the one who wanted more dirctions, I undersatand how you feel most Portuguese girls learn all this stuff by watching the mothers and grandmothers, and there's no measuring with cups and spoons, it's a little of this or that. If your dough was watery add about 1/2c of flour to it(kneading in betwean each addition) until it becomes more like a sticky bread dough and it's better to use your hands then a mixer. Make sure you have a small bowl of water (for your fingers) and two forks(for exra spreading and flipping) handy when you start.

...I tried these last night and did not care for this recipe! I believe they would taste absolutely wonderful if someone would explain the procedure better. Exactly what consistancy in the batter are we looking for? What kind of blade on the mixer, hook or paddle? Mine was a little thicker then pancake batter and they were oil soaked. I'd love to try them again if someone would share their knowledge and tips like the reader who added more flour and rolled it out...

This was a great recipe--I hadn't tried to make these for over 20 years and I'm glad I finally did! My husband loved them. We used to get them at Leonard's Bakery in Hawaii but I think these are better! I guess I'll be making them more often since we haven't lived in Hawaii for over 30 years!

I made these and they were excellent. I read all of the reviews and used some of the tips posted. Most important is DO NOT expect this to be like bread dough; it will be very sticky and does not form into a ball easily. Only changes I made to recipe were to use RapidRise Yeast and I added an additional 1/4 cup sugar. I did not try rolling out the dough; I left it in the bowl and scooped up small teaspoonfuls and dropped them into my Fry Daddy; it worked great. I then filled a small brown paper bag with a cinnamon/sugar mixture and shook each one in the bag to cover. This makes ALOT of dough; I just kept it in the fridge and I got 3 days worth of malasadas out of it. Worth the effort!

These remind me of my youth in Honolulu. My mom used to make these all the time, but when we moved she lost it. Now thanks to the Internet, I am able to make these yummy donuts for my daughter; she just loves them!

Excellent! Tips: open up the first several to make sure you are cooking them long enough all the way through. Under-done will give you dough in the middle, and overdone will have too dark a color and a slightly burnt taste. There is a happy medium. To reach it, you need to drop in a middle-sized piece (not too big to cook through) and watch the color. If it goes dark before it cooks through, reduce the size of malasada and/or lower the temp. Overall, easy to make.

These were good. I never had the traditional ones before. I would also halve the recipe. We ate on them for several days. I would reccommend keeping batter in refrigerator till you are ready to cook. And then only cook what you will eat that day. After the 3rd day they became hard. I made them small so they would cook thoroughly. On some of the bigger ones the center was still a little doughy. The boys did not seem to mind. They said they liked them that way. Thanks for the recipe. I will probably make this recipe again because our boys did like them alot.

These were great!! My 6 yr old ate about a dozen of them when he got home from school. My framers loved them too. I will definitely be making these again. These will definitely go into my favorite file.

This recipe is great, but whatever doesn't get eaten' the day of baking needs to be thrown out.

Made these for Malasadas Day (Fat Tuesday) and my 8 year old son loved them.It helped us keep a family tradition going now that we live in Texas and can't buy our malasadas. Sooo ONO!!

Exceptional Recipe. A few additional things omitted. The user who advised using milk on your hands while working with batter was absolutely spot on. The stove to achieve 375 degrees would be medium to medium low depending on stove. lastly let batter sit 12 hours minimum for best consistency. The recipe is spot on. Oh and dont make big ones. The dough will be raw in middle. teaspoon size is perfect.

The first time I tried this recipe, I added more flour thinking that the dough was supposed be like bread dough. Do not do this, the malasadas were very dense. This being said, make the recipe as it is, the dough should be very sticky. I added 1/4c more sugar, and the malasadas were fantastic, fluffy, sweet, and golden brown, just like I remembered when I was a kid growing up in Hawaii! Yummm...

This recipe was perfect! I made them yesterday for Christmas and my family loved them! My grandfather is full Portuguese and he said they were just as good as the ones we get in Hawaii. Honestly no one does them like Hawaii but these were the next best thing! I can't wait to make them again!

Onolicious is the perfect word! I used to go to Tex Drive-In all the time for their malasadas, but I've been in Virginia for about 4 years now. Mahalo for sharing this recipe! It brought back memories from the hanabata days in Hilo.

These were very good and easy to make. I made some large ones and they did not come out as well, so stick with the size the recipe recommends.

These were great! Took me back to the day of making these in the morning with my Mom. They are much better if pulled apart so the center is very thin without breaking through. The outside rim is more like a donut but the center is crispy and wonderful. There are best when eaten within 24-48 hours after that they get a little stale. But they are so great when fresh. I remember kids coming from all over on Sunday Mornings to get these from my Mom. I run into people now some 40 years later and the first thing they say is remembering coming over to get my Mom's donuts. they just called them ugly donuts.

Oh these were sooooooooo ono.....one of the things i miss about hawaii are these babies at the punahou carnaval........yummy! *shaka*

This is an easy and delicious recipe that made a large quantity of somewhat small malasadas (about the size of doughnut holes). Intentionally, I omitted the eggs and the dough came out fluffy and easy to fry. I believe that by omitting the eggs the time frying could be reduced by half.

Despite an earlier review, you do not need to throw out any un-eaten treats. These actually freeze very well. Allow them to cool and store them in an airtight container in the freezer. The sugar will melt when you defrost them but they are still just as delicious. I am a first generation Canadian Portuguese and I used to help my mom make these starting at a very young age. Unfortunately she also took the recipe with her when she passed away. Making these made me feel just that much closer to her. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

Being from Hawaii this was no way near Leonards famous malasadas...but they were a good doughnut! I would recommend maybe rolling in cinnamon sugar or adding some more sugar to the batter.

This malasada turned out dry and bready and had no flavor. It tasted like day old sandwich bread with sugar on it. I tried under cooking some to see if It was my frying method, but even with a doughy center the surrounding pastry was still dry. My ideal malasada collapses when you crunch into it and is moist and chewy on the inside, that's the malasada recipe I am still looking for.

I tried this recipe, and had to add almost another two cups of flour to the dough to make it smooth and workable. And then when we did fry the dough, they didn't turn out all that light and fluffy at all, and were pretty dense. So that when we broke them open or bit into them, they were under cooked in the middle, if at all.

My mom loved the recipe but me on the other hand thought it was ok. I've been to hawaii and had the famous Leonard's malasadas and these weren't as fluffy. Also anyone planning on making this just remember this is a lot of donuts. Maybe try cutting ingredients in half. But anyways thanks for the sharing the recipe. Overall I would make it again. Thanks

These are so good I did double the yeast becouse they would not rise.

just got done making these and i guess its all about what you grew up with. i do agree that they needed to be flattened out with your fingers dipped in milk so that the center cooks. wish they were sweeter

I just fried some this morning. I made the dough yesterday evening, but I wasn't able to fry them because it was late. I woke up to a seriously risen battter! It was fine though when I fried it. I dropped big teaspoonfuls of batter and fried away. Then I shaked them up in bags, they were great! Will make again! It's a real simple recipe if you just follow the directions with no changes.

I love malasadas, and I'm Portuguese, we all grow up with this elephant ears

I have made these once before with my mom when I was sixteen and they were a great hit with my friends and teachers. I decided to look up the recipe again so I could make then again for my friends in college. I am hoping now that I am older and know how to cook more I will be able to make these by myself this time with not as much trouble as I had the first time.

i don't doubt that this is a good recipe, but i'm from hawaii too, and malasadas aren't the only doughnuts we have! you can buy doughnuts in lots of places here!

I'm sorry to say, these were really awful.

I have to say, I was born and raised in Hawaii and this recipe was RIGHT ON! Wow, immediately after taking the first bite, it was "That's it!"

The taste was good. I just made this recipe and here's what I'll do next time: 1) half the recipe--way too much for me and my braddah's family. 2) 375 was way too hot-maybe 325 next time--the first batch was all "koge" (burnt). 3) my dough didn't rise so I placed the bowl in another bowl filled with warm water--next time I'll let it rise, punch it down and let it rise again.

so simple and delicious

The recipe I grew up using for these is bigger but similar and still good. Oh do I remember those trips to Pearl City! Only because we always got to stop at Leonard's lol!

Malasadas are made traditionally in madeira (many portuguese decendents in hawaii are from madeira) with moonshine as a flavoring agent. Sugar is minimal in order to make a more fried-bread rather than sweet confection. Bread is then eaten alone, cinnamon sugar, or sugar cane syrup. This recipe wasn't what I grew up with but very tasty. I did enjoy it and all of you who try it will likely enjoy it too. A nice tweek is to add a bit of nutmeg or/and orange rind. yummy!

Loved it, I used coconut oil to fry them in just so they aren't quite soooo bad for you. We also shook them in cinnamon sugar.

Wish this recipe were for a smaller amount! Nevertheless they are onolicious! Thanks!

Tried this recipe. Looks and smells like malasadas, but failed in taste. I followed it to the letter, but it didn't taste right. Biting into it was very disappointing, it was not sweet enough. I'm wondering if it was one CAN of evaporated milk as opposed to one CUP? This recipe needs tweaking.

I lived in hawaii in my teens and this reciepe is just like i rememberd. thank you so much. I've been looking for a good malasada reciepe for about 10 years now and i finally found a great one.

Best thing you can get to Leonard's Malasadas!

These are tasty! But if you're wanting to follow the instructions on shaping them with a thin center, plan on adding more flour and still having it be difficult to work with--this is like a thick batter or VERY loose dough.

It's ok

I never made any changes and have made a lot of these malasadas. Lol I was Even asked to make for a wedding, birthday party, celebration of life gathering and more. Thanks for a great recipe.

the best donut ever you must try it

I just tried to make this recipe today,the batter was very sticky, after fried it tasted fluffy. This is a good recipe. But, I am not good at fried things, so my doughnut contain many oil,what a pity, I should use higher temperature to fry them next time. I will try again, because I like the fluffy malasadas.

A little work, but greasy and awesome.

Needs a HOT deep fat frier. And didnt come out as sweet as the original hawaiian flavor. Need to experiment with this one to make it better

Good recipe. Kids loved it but I found it had too much of a yeast taste to it. Maybe I'll try using only 1/2 the package of yeast next time. Difficult to handle the dough so I ended up dropping spoonfuls into the oil. I found this works better and is easier.

Wow!! Fabulous! I grew up having Malasadas during the holidays but never made them before until last night. I followed the reviewers advice and added 1/4 cup more sugar and I did add 1 tsp of vanilla. I let the dough rise 5 hours just because I was not going to make them until later. I used sugar, cinnamon and salt to coat them when finished. They really turned out wonderful! I will make these every year now!

Needs a HOT deep fat frier. And didnt come out as sweet as the original hawaiian flavor. Need to experiment with this one to make it better

I am from Oahu and am very familiar with Leonard's Malasadas! Since moving to the main land, I haven't been able to find anything like it here! These are by far, ONO GRINDS!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!! I can't stop eating them!!

I recommend adding flour as you go when mixing it in order to get the right consistency.

This is the worst recipe ever. The dough turned out extremely sticky and unworkable. Malasadas turned out burnt and inside wet.

This recipe is not the carnival type that I'm looking for. It's more dense and it browns to quickly.

Turned out great! Made the dough in my countertop mixer, and it was on the loose and sticky side, so thankful for the comment that gave me the heads up about that. Took a few hours to double in size. Put a cover on the bowl and put in the fridge overnight and made them in the morning. Because the dough was so messy we decided to not go the traditional Portuguese route with the shaping, but we opted for more the Hawaiian style and used a melon baller (or an ice cream scoop) to scoop them up and dump into the hot oil. Tried one first before putting several in. Used an electric wok to fry them in. Drained some of the grease on a plate lined with paper towels, and then dumped them a few at a time into a paper bag with granulated sugar and powdered cinnamon- shook them up real well to coat and then they were done! Turned out so delicious. Also, this recipe makes quite a lot so we only used half the dough, so I’m freezing the other half. I think that should be fine :)

I live in Colorado so I made a few adjustments to the recipe for the high altitude/my requirements. I'm trying to get it to be light a fluffy like the kind in Hawaii. I was having a hard time getting the dough to rise because it was so heavy, so I added a second pack of yeast and that worked well. I didn't like how doughy the inside of the malasada was when I was done with the first batch so I used one less egg the next one. I also warmed the water and milk a bit. If the dough didn't rise right away, I put it at the oven for ~10min at 200 deg F. (I'm still new with using yeast so not 100% about these tactics) I also found other recipes on line that suggested using parchment paper covered in oil. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and wanted them to look nice and round. I cut out squares of parchment paper, covered them in oil, put the dough on and dipped my fingers in milk to make shaping the dough easier. ( someone suggested using milk and it was the greatest tip ever. The dough is super sticky.) Then I dipped the dough in the oil until it peeled off the paper. I reused the same squares. As they got oilier, the dough peeled off easier. So far I'm happy with the results. Super tasty. May experiment more laters. This recipe makes about 30 malasadas.

OMG!! This is just what I've been looking for. After surfing, coming in off the water, there's nothing like a bunch of hot malasadas!!!!! Truly Portugese/Hawaiian brings back fond memories of the islands!!

My pokemon loved this! Alola!

I am brazilian

They didn't come out too bad, but because I had to search through reviews for more details on how to really make them (Peggy's in particular was helpful), and because I thought the taste was a little off, I'm giving it 3 stars. The directions were a bit unclear or added some unnecessary info. I did adjust the recipe (LOVE that feature at the top of the recipe!), to make 40, but it was hard to remember the changes as you read the old measurements in the directions! The dough couldn't be mixed well with standard mixer blades, but luckily my mixer has bread attachments which seemed to work better but still almost burned out my mixer--or was I supposed to mix by hand?? I'm also Portuguese and I thought the taste was a bit off, but might have been something to do with the changes. I'll try the Malasadas Dois recipe on this site next time--uses regular milk and the directions seem more straightforward. My mom used to use a Jiffy mix of some kind when she made them, but I've eaten many, many of these at Festas all around MA!! My aunt has asked if I have a recipe for malasadas, so thanks for the start on finding a good recipe I can send to my aunt who's out of state!!

I grew up with my dad making these in our wok. I can't wait to try!

This was an amazing recipe! A couple of pointers; you will need more than 6 cups of flour and if you don't have a circle cookie cutter, use a drinking cup for the perfect shape. The batch was super sticky, so I kept adding flour until it was easy to work with. After letting it rise, it became sticky again, so,I added more flour. I used my kitchen cup as a cookie cutter and the shape after frying them was perfect!

It turned out really dark in order to fully cook it.

Thank you so much for this recipe! I remember my vovo making these as a child; it was always a great day when we would find bowls of dough rising throughout the warmer areas of the house. She's 98 now, and unfortunately dementia has taken over her mind and I can't get her recipe, but this a great alternative!

My husband said they tasted just the same as when his Grandma made them when he was a kid.

Made a booboo by accidentally using condensed milk instead of evaporated milk but recipe is still followed carefully. It still turned out very well except it’s probably stickier and sweeter. Biggest suggestion is to let it proof for a good 6 hours. Make sure your yeast is good. Proof it longer if the weather is cold. Make sure oil temperature is hot enough and fry about a table spoon to make sure you don’t have undercooked dough. We had so much left over and I didn’t want it to go waste.I baked a loaf and put the rest in muffin (lined with cupcake) tins. Planning to use the loaf for French toast. The smaller ones were filled with jelly, topped with butter and cheese to mimic empanada- didn’t sprinkle sugar because my dough was already sweet from the condensed milk.