Friends can you believe its March? Secondly can you believe Mardi Gras is tomorrow!? Two of my favorite cuisines are Cajun and Creole. I love me some Gumbo, Jambalaya, boudin balls…I just love it all. I’ve never been to New Orleans before but certainly planning to within the next year or two. I have so many restaurants and places I plan on visiting, one of which is the famed Café du Monde. My plan is to go there and order as many beignets as I possibly can.
Although I’ve never been to New Orleans, I’m huge fan of Beignets and have been since I started working at a restaurant that offered some Louisiana classics. We were allowed to take any extras home so I would often take the beignet dough home and fry them up for my sisters and I then dust them powdered sugar. I quickly learned the amount of powered sugar I was putting on the beignets was not adequate enough. The only and proper way to serve a beignet is to drown it in powdered sugar….like there should probably be a mountain of powdered sugar.
So until I can actually get to New Orleans, I will continue to make my own at home until I can get to the real thing.
Start out with by placing your warm water in a mixing bowl with the active dry yeast. Let bloom for about 10 minutes. Add in the melted butter, sugar , salt and egg. Slowly add in the flour. Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook. Add in the warmed milk and water. Continue to mix until the dough forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover for 90 minutes. Punch down the dough to release any air.
If you plan on frying the beignets another day, simply cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. If frying that day, roll the dough out on a floured surface, until about 1/4 inch thick. But into 2×2 in squares.
Fill a heavy bottomed pot with vegetable oil and heat to 375 degrees. Once the grease is hot enough drop each beignet in one by one cooking for about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side.
As soon as the beignets come out of the fryer, set them on paper towel to get any excess grease off then immediately dust with powdered sugar…..there is no limit to the amount of powdered sugar you dust these with.
Happy Mardi Gras friends and Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Water warm
- 2 1/2 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 1/8 cup Unsalted Butter Melted
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 cup Hot Water
- 1/2 cup Whole Milk Warm
- 1 Egg
- 3 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
Instructions
- 1. Place warm water and yeast in a mixing bowl. Let bloom for about 10 minutes. At that point, the yeast should be foamy. To this, add the melted butter, sugar and salt. Add in the egg, then carefully add in the flour mixture. Switch to the dough hook attachment on your mixer. Then add the warm milk and water. Transfer to a well greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for about a hour and a half. Once the dough has doubled, punch down the dough to release any air. 2. At this point you can refrigerate the dough if not using until the AM. Just remember to take the dough out an hour before you are going to roll them out and fry them. 3. Heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pot, once the oil reaches 375 degrees start dropping your beignet dough in the fryer one by one being careful not to overcrowd the pot. Cook for about a one minute on each side. 4. Serve immediately while hot. Dust with powdered sugar.