Fazer berliininmunkki gluten free donut

A bit further afield today while I tell you all about the Fazer berliininmunkki, a gluten free donut which translates to Berliner donut. I think it’s maybe my first official review of a Finnish product on my website.

I have wondered if it’s worth reviewing gluten free products outside of Australia. After all, are any of my local audience going to be interested in them?

But I guess, if you only had a few days to spend in Finland, say a quick stopover in Helsinki, then you need to know the top products you should buy during your stay.

Having written that, it reminds me that I really should get around to writing up my comprehensive gluten free in Finland guide. One day, one day.

Fazer gluteeniton (gluten free)

Fazer is all over Finland with products in too many categories to name, but the main one you’ll see everywhere is their chocolate. Think of them as Finnish Cadbury.

For the record most of their chocolate has a may contain for gluten, but most coeliacs and wheat allergy folks I know in Finland make an exception for Fazer. It’s a personal choice of course.

However, the Fazer gluten free baked goods are legit gluten free. They don’t actually make them themselves. As I understand all the Fazer baked good (or definitely the cakes) are made by a specialised gluten free bakery that produces their own brand as well as Fazer products.

Fazer are known for their baked goods, you can buy their wheaty stuff in all the major supermarkets. So it makes sense that they wanted their branding on gluten free products as well. Lucky for us it means a few items are exclusively gluten free, like the excellent Marianne chocolate cakes.

Fazer berliininmunkki

If you’re wondering about ingredients you can see them on the Fazer website. Use the translate function in your browser to swap it to your language. In Finland you’ll typically find ingredients listed in Finnish and Swedish.

All allergens are highlighted in bold so it makes label reading much quicker.

I did notice with the ingredients that it’s quite a small list, it seems fairly close to how you’d make it yourself. And if you’re wondering, yes, it’s yeasted dough like a real doughnut!

The donuts come in a cardboard box with no other packaging which is great. You don’t need a plastic tray inside or a plastic bag.

The first thing I noticed taking them out is that they are heavy! The overall weight is 240g though I suspect each doughnut could weigh more than 120g, they really did feel heavier than they looked. I’ll get my friend to weigh a pair 😁.

I looked up the regular (wheat) berliininmunkki by Fazer and they actually weigh less than the GF ones! Ok, it’s only 5g less but I’m calling that a major win for coeliacs.

I left mine to defrost in the fridge for a few hours then on the bench for an hour. I’m not sure what is ideal, but you definitely don’t want to heat them as that will melt the icing.

The taste

Something I realised I quite like in a doughnut is the taste of the outside, the oil that has fried the outside of the dough. It’s delicious and really contributes to the overall taste of a doughnut.

The fried exterior on the Fazer munkki is nice, it feels like a real jam donut. It’s made with a yeasted dough, so it’s closer to what you’d get at a freshly fried doughnut stand – like Vic Market in Melbourne.

While it doesn’t feel very soft or squishy in your hand, it is soft to bite into. Better yet, it definitely feels like a doughnut and not like a cake. It doesn’t have cake texture at all.

The jam inside is lovely, it’s thick and has a strong raspberry taste, not just intense sugar.

The icing is of course sweet but I think it also has a slight raspberry flavour to it rather than just being pink.

Combined this doughnut comes together perfectly, the fried exterior, the actual doughnut dough (so rare for GF), the rich raspberry jam and topped with just enough icing. It’s not something you’d eat every day but for satisfying that occasional doughnut desire, this fits the bill.

The verdict

Overall I’m really happy with this doughnut, it’s baked better than the Pirkka quark doughnut (which I love) and all the components, the dough, jam and icing sit really well together.

I’ve definitely got a sugar buzz going but I’m not feeling overloaded or sickly.

At €5.25 for two it’s pretty expensive when compared to some of the other items available in the gluten free freezer. But given the size it’s not a bad deal.

Where to buy Fazer Berliininmunkki

These come frozen so first of all head to the freezer section – most stores in Finland will have a dedicated gluten free section.

Looking online you can buy these in both K group and S group stores. That means Prisma, K Market and Citymarket. Possibly smaller stores like Ale as well, but I’m not sure they carry as many gluten free products.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Gluten free: Legit, marked gluten free.
Vegetarian / vegan: Vegetarian.
Allergens: Wheat (GF wheat starch), milk, egg. May contain: Peanut, almond.
Serving size: Two hefty donuts

Not in Finland but still need a donut? Check out my review of Katz gluten free donuts. They are available in Woolies (Australia) and all over the US.