Malasadas are traditional Portuguese yeast-leavened doughnuts made from eggs, flour, sugar, and milk. They are sometimes coated with cinnamon or granulated sugar. The original Portuguese malasadas don't have any holes or fillings, but the variations prepared in Hawaii do.

The popularity of malasadas in Hawaii is not accidental – Portuguese laborers from the Azores came to Hawaii in the 19th century to work in the plantations. They brought their traditional foods with them, including the malasadas, which were originally prepared in order to use all the sugar and lard in one's home before Lent. 

These squares of deep-fried pastry dough are sprinkled with powdered sugar and are traditionally served hot. The dish hails from France, and French settlers brought it to the Acadia region of Canada in the 17th century. Many of the Acadians later moved to Louisiana, and they brought their culinary traditions with them.

Today, beignets are most commonly associated with the French Quarter of New Orleans, where they were declared the official state donut in 1986. These treats are typically served alongside chocolate milk or café au lait, a combination often served at the Cafe Du Monde - a New Orleans restaurant that is most often associated with beignets.

Beaver tails are sweet, flat, and thin Canadian pastries made from whole wheat flour. The dough is hand-stretched and shaped to look like a beaver's tail - unsurprisingly, one of Canada's national symbols. The shaped dough is fried (a technique referred to as float-cooking) on canola oil and smothered with butter and a variety of different toppings.

Beaver Tails originated from a recipe created by Grant Hooker's family and have been served commercially since 1978. It is believed that the pastry evolved from a yeasty, wheaty dessert made from excess dough that was first made on early Canadian and American farms. 

Apple cider doughnuts are a type of doughnut popular on the East Coast of the United States, particularly in New England. As the name implies, they are made with a dough containing apple cider and are often coated in cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.

Apple cider doughnuts are a fall treat and can be found around apple orchards, at farmers' markets, in bakeries across the East Coast, and are a staple at autumn festivities. Although it is often considered they originated during Colonial times, the first recipe is from 1951, when DCA (Doughnut Company of America) introduced a new flavor to their line of doughnuts.

This seasonal delicacy soon became a favorite and has stayed as such until today. 

Although archaeologists had found some petrified remains of fried cakes with holes in the center, it is still unclear how could the early Native Americans prepare these delicious fried dough desserts that we know today as doughnuts. In the past, doughnuts were known as olykoeks (oily cakes), and the pilgrims from Holland are credited for bringing them to the United States.

Those early doughnuts were often made with prunes, raisins, or apples in the middle. During World War I, the doughnut was already an American favorite, consumed by soldiers that were fighting overseas as a reminder of home. In the 1950s and the 1960s, the popularity of these treats was so big that new doughnut chains started appearing on the market, such as Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts, helping in the perception of doughnuts as breakfast food. 

Fried ice cream is a decadent treat made by coating a scoop of ice cream in crumbled cookies or cornflakes, then deep-frying it for a short period of time until golden-brown in color on the exterior. The scoop of ice cream should ideally be frozen below the usual temperature at which ice cream is kept, in order not to melt when fried.

If served in the most traditional way, frozen ice cream is placed on a cinnamon-sugar tortilla shell. This dessert became popular during the 1980s, and it was first adopted by a famous Mexican restaurant chain.

The unusual New Yorker creation known as a Cronut is a hybrid between a croissant and a doughnut, characterized by its soft and creamy interior, and flaky layers of pastry on the exterior. These treats are fried in oil, filled with cream, rolled in sugar, and glazed on top.

Due to their short shelf life of about 6 hours, the cronuts are intended to be consumed as soon as they are made. The dessert was invented in 2013 by a French pastry chef named Dominique Ansel at his bakery in New York City, when a customer pointed out that his menu did not have any version of the American classic – doughnuts. 

Timbits are bite-sized doughnut holes made from leftover doughnut dough, fried in vegetable oil and available in a number of varieties such as yeast, cake, apple fritter, honey dip, old fashion plain, chocolate glazed, blueberry, strawberry, lemon, and filled timbits.

They are sold in North American fast food chains such as Tim Hortons and Dunkin' Donuts. The bit in Timbit is an acronym for Big in Taste, which is an original campaign slogan from the 1970s. In Quebec, people prefer to use the generic term doughnut holes or trous de beigne instead of timbits. 

Goolab jamoon (also spelled gulab jamun) is a festive Trini treat that was developed under the influence of Indian cuisine. Milky and sweet, these fritters consist of milk, flour, ghee, water, and ground cardamom. Fried until golden brown and then drained, the fritters are glazed with a sweet syrup consisting of sugar, water, and ginger.

Goolab jamoon is especially popular during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.