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Beignet Recipe: How to Make Beignets
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The perfect Beignet recipe!

You may be asking, "What the heck is a beignet?!" :)
It's a fancy way to say donut holes; actually, French. They are delicious!! -- in any language.
So soft and airy; addicting beyond belief! One beignet will never be enough :)
I want to share this beignet recipe and some "how-to" tips for cooking them. Hopefully, what I learned will help you when you're making them.
1. This recipe makes a lot of beignets, so unless you're feeding your child's school; make half the recipe.
2. It says to roll the dough out and cut into 1 inch squares -- well, I wanted to drop them like a dumpling into the hot oil like I saw on the Food Network show "Chopped." :) Don't do that; follow the recipe, :) because they are too thick otherwise. I had much better luck when I made mine about 2 inches x 2 inches, so that's a little bigger than the recipe calls for, but they worked just fine.

3. The recipe says to heat the oil to 350 degrees; well, that was too hot for my beignets! :)
They were brown in seconds and doughy in the middle; so, I heated my oil to about 250 degrees and they did just great. Use a candy thermometer to gauge the temperature. When frying the beignets, I took the oil off the flame if the heat got out of control. You will have to see how your range works with the oil and how quickly it cooks the beignets; adjust the heat as needed.
4. One last thing: Because of time, I have had to let it rest for only 1 hour, and they still turned out great.
This beignet recipe is from one of my favorite Food Network stars -- Paula Deen.
Beignets: 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (between 100 - 110 degrees) 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 envelope active dry yeast -- 2 1/4 tsp. 2 eggs, slightly beaten 1 1/4 tsp. salt; I used 1 tsp. 1 cup evaporated milk 7 cups bread flour 1/4 cup shortening; basic Crisco Nonstick spray Oil, for deep-frying (use a small to medium saucepan, and fill oil to about 2 - 3 inches deep) 3 cups powdered sugar, or less -- just put a couple of scoops in a ziploc and add more if needed; you may not need this much.
1. Mix water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together.
3. Mix egg mixture with the yeast mixture.
4. Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
5. Add shortening and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour.
6. Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
7. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Put dough into bowl and cover with plastic wrap or towel.
8. Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.
9. Preheat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees -- I needed it less hot.
10. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares (or 2 inch squares).
11. Deep fry, flipping when one side is light to golden brown. There is a little magic to this; these little suckers don't always want to stay on the side that needs browning, so watch them closely while frying. You may have to hold them in place with tongs.
12. After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towel.
13. Toss them with powdered sugar in a ziploc bag.
This beignet recipe makes the most delicious treat -- Enjoy!
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