If you’re not familiar with bola de berlim, or “Portuguese Donuts” as Trader Joe’s has renamed them, you’re at least familiar with the concept. We’re talking about balls of fried dough that are rolled in sugar and bisected so a filling can be added. Simple enough. While bola de berlim are certainly their own thing, they aren’t that different from the filled doughnuts you’ll find at any mom-and-pop doughnut shop near any Trader Joe’s. Like so many TJ’s products, these new Portuguese donuts left me wondering why they’re going through all this trouble for nothing of value.
- Trader Joe’s Portuguese Donuts with a Chocolate Hazelnut Filling
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Pros: Trader Joe’s Portuguese Donuts come frozen so you just have to thaw and serve. There’s a convenience level that can’t be ignored. You can get these out of the freezer and into your mouth within a few minutes (thanks to an air fryer or microwave to get past that bothersome hour-on-the-counter thaw time). That’s a lot easier than trying to get your bedhead under control first thing in the morning before facing someone at a doughnut shop.
Cons: Convenience aside, the fact that this is a frozen donut is the exact cause of all of its problems. It’s unpleasantly dense because it’s not fresh out of the fryer. The sprinkled sugar coating turns into a sticky mess while the donut thaws. And because the doughnut itself is so dense, it’s a struggle to choke down a bite when there’s also a half inch of hazelnut filling in the mix. Could you eat these and be content? Surely. But I can’t in good conscience let you waste your time when there are much better donuts—and bola de berlim, for that matter—to be found in the world.
Vinz Karl you are a goddamn fool. Your complaints about density originate from the fact that you are microwaving the poor donutinhos. How dare you lie to the public