Walmart “bakery” products are hit-or-miss. I’d venture to say that they generally skewer more toward the “hit” side, but the nastiness of their banana bread alone is enough to make me hesitate saying that outright. If there’s one thing it’s virtually impossible to botch, though, it’s a powdered donut.

It’s really the most basic of all formulas: cake donut covered in powdered sugar. There just isn’t much room for failure. The biggest threat is the cake donut itself: If it has too much influence on the flavor, then it can ruin the sweetness of the topping. Judging from taste, the way companies avoid that is by giving the donut itself no real discernible flavor. That way, the powdered sugar is the star of the show. And I’m not complaining, because that’s the way it should be.

The appearance of Walmart’s circular pastries (or cakes, or whatever you consider them) shows some true potential. The donuts are covered in the white coating, with no actual donut visible. Honestly, this is true of pretty much all brands, but I’ve seen some skimp out a bit. If I’m paying for a specific flavor – in this case, “powdered” – then I want as much of it as possible. 

These also manage to hit the texture right on the head. Really, the desired texture is “soft”; the softer it is, the better. These definitely offer no resistance as you bite in, which is good. The other possible detractor is the powdered sugar. It should melt in the mouth almost immediately upon impact. And these do. So far, we’re checking all the boxes here.

The taste is very good, but not quite enough to dethrone Mrs. Freshley’s as the best mass-produced donut I’ve ever had. It has that familiar powdered sugar taste…and not much else. That can be a good thing. Personally, I don’t want the taste of the donut itself overpowering the sweetness. Nor do I want something that’s going to try something new, and fail miserably. These are just straight ahead powdered donuts.

I don’t know if I’d say these “hit it out of the park”, because I’m not sure any of them do (besides Mrs. Freshley’s…what is her secret ingredient?). I’m tempted to say these are in the upper-echelon of such products, but the line between “good” and “bad” donuts is a lot thinner than other categories. All I can say is that these deliver the experience you’re expecting; nothing more, nothing less.

And the price – $3.24 for a 14 oz. package – deliver plenty of sugary goodness for a reasonable sum of money. They are nothing extraordinary, but they’re delicious and familiar and affordable. Who can argue with that?

Overall: 8/10. Freshness Guaranteed Powdered Sugar Mini Donuts don’t try anything new, and that’s because they don’t need to. They provide an expected experience and at a very reasonable price. In other words, they taste like virtually every other brand, but at a price that undercuts a majority of the competition. Isn’t that what you’re looking for in a private label? They don’t quite hit the lofty highs of Mrs. Freshley’s powdered donuts (seriously, am I the only one that thinks this?), and they still have one of the lamest brand names in history. But at the end of the day, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick these up again.