The thing is, there are so many different words for these kinds of doughnuts. I’ve personally known this style of donuts by three different names. The first name I knew them as was doughnut holes.
Doughnut holes is a peculiar name for these treats because it suggests that they are the centre part of the doughnut that’s been cut out. I know that there are some doughnuts that are made by cutting circles of dough, then cutting out the centre, but that’s not always the case. In fact often doughnuts are made by extruding a round shape right into hot oil. There are also many kinds of doughnuts that do not have a hole in the middle (this is also problematic for the name doughnut), so it just seems a little bit of a lie. Doughnut hole, for me suggests a story of a doughnuts that may or may not be true, but it’s a narrative about how this shape came to be. One would imagine a crafty baker that didn’t want to waste dough.
The second name for these round doughnuts that I use, and still use to this day is Timbits. I know that this is a very branded name, but as a Canadian it’s something you just can’t avoid. In Canada using the word “Timbits” for small round doughnuts is like using the word “Kleenex” for facial tissues. I do my best to use the word only when referring to the small round doughnuts sold at Tim Horton’s, but I’m pretty sure it slips out for other small round doughnuts I see outside of Tim Horton’s. I’ll also be honest with you, when I’m in Canada Timbits are pretty much the only small round doughnuts I eat.
The third name I’ve used for these doughnuts is very specific to a 4 year period of my life, and that’s loukoumades. I spent four years living in Greece, and just about every loukoumades I saw there was a small round doughnut. I even made some myself and I shaped them as small round balls. I’m pretty sure the direct translation of loukoumades is doughnut, but since they’re almost always sold as small round balls, I feel like the word fits into the category.
For all of you Americans out there, I haven’t forgotten about you. The word munchkins is what many Americans call their small round doughnuts. The name come from Dunkin’ (Donuts), and has been around for a really long time. While I recognize that name for this style of doughnuts, it’s just not a word that I’ve used having never lived in the USA. I know that there are Dunkin’ locations outside of the USA, but honestly I’ve never really seen the munchkins as something I would regularly get at Dunkin’ since they have some pretty cool regular sized doughnuts to choose from.
I’ve had a long history of eating small round doughnuts, and the name has evolved based on my age and where I’ve lived. I’m curious if you have a different name for these round doughnuts. Drop a comment and let me know what you call them.
