@Sasha - I’ve never enjoyed the muffins you speak of, but have some familiarity with Portuguese breads from our times in Hawaii. The bread, and malasadas, specifically.
I looked for recipes in David Leite’s Portuguese cookbook, with no luck, but found a number online. Are you inclined to bake at all? It could be a fun experience with you hopefully ending up with something that’s passable, from what you remember. The recipes I saw looked pretty straightforward, and looked like English Muffins, although I’m sure they taste much different. In any case, that type of bread is pretty easy to make, and could be a fun experiment. Please understand, I have no way of knowing your time constraints or willingness to bake. I do know that muffins of all types have a relatively short time span in which they taste their best.
