Home Maid Bakery Maui

On your next trip to Maui, skip the buffet breakfast and line up with the locals at Home Maid Bakery in Wailuku. Founded in 1960 by Joseph and Monica Kozuki, the bakery serves up everything from dinner rolls and cakes to the popular Japanese confections manju and mochi. Although famous for their Crispy Manju, a mini pie of sorts with a delicate and flaky crust and luscious fruit fillings like sweet azuki beans, apple, coconut, peach, pineapple, or imo (purple sweet potato), it's the malasadas that keep everyone coming back. Fried to order and served hot daily from 5-10 a.m. and 4-10 p.m ., malasadas are a Portuguese donut of sorts. Made from a yeast dough that is fried in hot oil and rolled in granulated sugar, traditional malasadas are unfilled, but Home Maid Bakery also offer cream-filled ones lightly dusted in powdered sugar (go for the cream filled). Malasadas were originally introduced to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants who came to work the plantations. Predominantly Catholic, they would need to use up all their butter and sugar prior to Lent, and did so by making large batches of these tasty treats. Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent, is now known as Malasada Day in Hawaii. Luckily, you don't have to wait until Fat Tuesday to get yours.