13 Maui Desserts You Can’t Miss
Maui is a foodie paradise—and that includes desserts and baked goods, too.
Got a sweet tooth—and love Maui, too?
Then this post is for you!
We’ve rounded up some of the most popular desserts on Maui right now, from giant stuffed cookies to dreamy cream pies.
1. Da Half Baked, Maui Cookie Lady
Da Half Baked.
Photo: Rolland and Jessica
With a shop in Makawao, Maui Cookie Lady is best known for her colossal cookies, so big you can actually share (though you might not want to). While the white chunk macadamia nut is its best-seller, the most requested—and most Instagrammed— cookie is Da Half Baked, a mammoth 8-ounce cookie stuffed with Oreo, Snickers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Ludacris are fans.
2. Strawberry Shortcake Caramel Apples and Rocky Road Apples, The Good Apple
Strawberry Shortcake Caramel Apples and Rocky Road Apples from The Good Apple.
Photos: Courtesy of The Good Apple
The flavors of The Good Apple’s gourmet caramel apples changes every month—and every month a new favorite emerges. Right now everyone is loving the March special: Rocky Road, drenched in housemade caramel sauce and rolled in chopped almonds and mini marshmallows. The Strawberry Shortcake flavor is also popular; the apples are dipped in white chocolate, rolled in graham crackers, then topped with candied strawberries and another drizzle of white chocolate. These apples are both nostalgic and innovative—and owner Angela Bascon will ship to the Mainland.
3. Vanilla Bean Doughnut, The Madame Donut
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The former owner of the popular Donut Dynamite continues to while up her addictive artisan doughnuts made with local ingredients. You can order online or wait for one of Madame Donut’s pop-up events. Some of her recent flavors include blueberry peanut butter crunch, s’mores, and a crazy matcha flavor topped with candied arare (Japanese rice crackers) and chocolate black sesame. Honestly, her classic vanilla bean brioche doughnut is fantastic—a no-frills doughnut topped with a vanilla bean glaze and vanilla bean powder.
4. Chocolate Birthday Bibingka, Tin Roof Maui
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Most people head to Tin Roof Maui in Kahului for its tasty kau kau tins and noodle dishes. But this takeout spot—run by “Top Chef” alum Sheldon Simeon—has a great dessert, too. The Birthday Cake Bibingka is a nod to Simeon’s Filipino heritage. (Bibingka is a traditional Filipino rice cake made with coconut milk.) It’s a chocolate mochi cake topped with a peanut butter frosting and rainbow sprinkles. (I’ve had it with Pop Rocks, too.)
5. Coconut Pie, Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop
The coconut cream pie from Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop.
Photo: Courtesy of Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop/Ryan Siphers
There are so many mini pies to choose from at Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop in Olowalu, from banana cream pie to apple crumb. But one of the standouts is its coconut cream pie, made with a housemade graham cracker crust filled with toasted coconut pastry cream and topped with fresh whipped cream.
6. Cream Horns, Stillwell’s Bakery & Café
Cream horns from Stillwell’s Bakery & Café.
Photo: Melissa Chang
Opened in 1994, Stillwell’s Bakery & Café in Wailuku offers a nice selection of pastries and baked goods, from fresh fruit tarts to a great lilikoʻi (passion fruit) cheesecake. But what lures regulars—and folks from Neighbor Islands—are the bakery’s popular cream horns. These are flaky puff pastries filled with pastry cream, dipped in milk chocolate and dusted with powdered sugar. You can get them in two sizes—mini and large—but good luck eating just one.
7. White Chocolate Mac Nut Pineapple Cookie, Maui Cookie Lab
The Snickerdoodle Sprinkle from Maui Cookie Lab.
Photo: Courtesy of Maui Cookie Lab
Just 10 minutes from Kahului Airport, Maui Cookie Lab sells freshly baked cookies in fun flavors like chocolate chunk sea salt, caramel crunch and Snickerdoodle Sprinkle. But the most popular flavors tend to be the Hawaiʻi ones: lilikoʻi oatmeal, coconut mac nut macaroon and—our fave—the white chocolate mac nut pineapple. It’s a classic cookie studded with locally grown macadamia nuts, chunks of pineapple and white chocolate. The company ships to the Mainland, too.
8. Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Mochi, Maui Speciality Chocolates
Maui Specialty Chocolates opened in 1990, selling high-quality chocolates from its retail store in Kahului. While its dark and milk chocolate confections are a big draw—especially the ones shaped like dolphins, humpback whales and the island of Maui—the shop specializes in mochi, too, made fresh daily. One of the most popular flavors is its peanut butter and milk chocolate mochi, a silky-smooth, chocolate-y Japanese rice cake filled with creamy PB. The flavor combo and texture are next level.
9. Chocolate Milkshake, Maui Kuʻia Estate Chocolate
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If you love chocolate—like, really love chocolate—you need to visit Maui Kuʻia Estate Chocolate in Lahaina. This award-winning chocolate company specializes in the highest-quality chocolate, some of which is sourced from its own cacao farm on Maui. You can sample its decadent chocolates—in assorted flavors like dark Maui coffee, dark milk lemongrass and mango dark—at its retail shop and café. But don’t leave without ordering one of the café’s milkshakes, all made with almond milk, and ridiculously delicious. A true indulgence.
10. Cream Puffs, T. Komoda Store & Bakery
T. Komoda Store & Bakery is practically a landmark in Makawao, with locals flocking to the 108-year-old bakery for its stick donuts, guava-filled malasadas and cream puffs, which are light with a crunchy shell. Go early, as the bakery usually sells out of its popular desserts by noon.
11. Banana Bread, Aunty Sandy’s Banana Bread
Aunty Sandy’s banana bread is soft, buttery and so moist, it melts in your mouth.
Photo: Grace Maeda
Sandy Hueu—aka Aunty Sandy—has been selling her now-famous banana bread since 1983. Find the roadside stand in Keʻanae, a peninsula en route to Hāna. The loaves, which are made daily, are moist and packed with local bananas. She also sells a banana bread mix, too.
12. Strawberry Cream Pie, Monkeypod Kitchen by Merriman
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There’s something magical about the strawberry cream pie from Monkeypod Kitchen by Merriman. First, it’s made with sweet Kula-grown strawberries and topped with a drizzle of strawberry-guava jam. The cream pie, itself, is smooth and luscious, like you’re eating a cloud. While the restaurant serves banana cream, chocolate cream and coconut cream—all delicious—the strawberry cream is, by far, the star.
13. Guri Guri, Tasaka Guri Guri
Guri guri.
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
You can’t visit Maui without stopping at the century-old Tasaka Guri Guri Shop. It’s known for something called guri guri, a frozen dessert that’s a cross between sherbet and ice cream. You can get it in only two flavors: strawberry and pineapple.
