I maintain a separate travel blog. We are presently spending time in Hawaii. You might find it interesting.
These are a treat we discovered last year when visiting Honolulu. They are called Malasada and are fried dough of some type with various toppings and fillings. We took an Uber to find this shop that was supposedly the best in Honolulu and bought a dozen. I would rate the food truck (Manuela’s Malasada) we discovered here even better. I think this was because the ones we sampled here were served hot after just being made so this probably has something to do with how good they tasted. The fruit fillings made with fruits from the island are most popular, but I had Bavarian Creme. The two Malasada at the top of the photo were mine. Reviews I read afterwards online also singled out the Bavarian Creme as a particular favorite.
It seems to me many cultures have a variation of some type of fried dough. Native American fry bread with powdered sugar seems very similar. Natasha, one of our Russian friends now living in the U.S., saw my photo and said that something like this is made in Russia and is called a “ponchike”. She and her husband are coming to visit us here and she said she will make some for us. Having sampled her creations on multiple occasions, I can say she is a creative and gifted cook and baker so we will certainly enjoy her creations when she visits.