Malassada is a Portuguese fried pastry from the Azores. It is a type of doughnut, made of flattened rounds of yeasted dough, coated with sugar and cinnamon or accompanied with molasses.
The term Malassada comes from Portuguese words "mal" and "assado" meaning "bad" and "roasted", referring to their unstructured shape.
Malassadas are often called "Hawaiian donuts" because of their popularity and cultural presence in the Hawaiian islands.
The name is often used interchangeably with . However, according to the Direção-Geral de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural (DGARD), these two regional pastries are distinctâÂÂthe Azorean is made during , while the of Penedono is made with brandy and olive oil instead of milk and is enjoyed year-round. Another similar pastry from the Central Region is .
The is believed to be derived from the from mainland Portugal and Madeira, a product of the growing sugar industry during the sixteenth century. It was exported throughout Macaronesia, where it was introduced to the Azores and Canary Islands, reaching as far as Brazil during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
were first described in the in 1609, and recorded in the ledgers of the in Lisbon between 1688 and 1762. The describes the - () referring to the "undercooked" dough inside. However, another version asserts it was previously made using (), having been named or .
Historically, were conventual sweets prepared for Terça-feira Gorda () with the intention of using all the lard and sugar in one's home before Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten Season which limits the use of fats and sugars as a form of fasting and penance, similar to other traditions like Pancake Day. It is a traditional confection eaten in the Azores and Madeira during .
In 1878, Portuguese laborers from Madeira and the Azores started to immigrate to Hawaii to work on the plantations. They brought with them their traditional foods, including fried doughnuts they called â now commonly spelled as malasadas. These doughnuts are more closely related to the bola de berlim, a fried doughnut widely served on the beaches in Portugal. In the past, Catholic Portuguese immigrants shared it with friends of other ethnicities in the plantation camps.
Today, there are numerous bakeries in the Hawaiian Islands specializing in where it is made around the year. Like Portuguese bolas de berlim, these doughnuts are made both with and without cream fillings. In Hawaii, they are sometimes filled with the traditional Portuguese custard cream, but there are also local cream varieties flavored with coconut, chocolate, lilikoi (passion fruit), guava, mango, ube, or pineapple. In Hawaii, Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) is known as "Malasada Day".
In the United States, are cooked in many Portuguese homes on Fat Tuesday. It is a tradition where the older children take the warm doughnuts and roll them in sugar while the eldest woman â mother or grandmother â cooks them.
On the East Coast, in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, there is a high population of Portuguese-Americans. Festivals in cities such as New Bedford and Fall River will often serve Portuguese cuisine, including .
(2010) Patrick Andrews - "Pioneering the Malasada" Queensland, Australia. 2010