These soft and fluffy beignets are the official state doughnut of Louisiana! They are little pillows of joy.
Thank you to everyone who voted for their favorite dessert from Louisiana, as well as interesting facts about the state! I love hearing about them. You can vote for next week's dessert (Maine) here.
Louisiana has a lot of tasty food options to explore. The state is famous for bread pudding, king cake, and banana fosters. In the end, I chose to make their beignets because they have always been on my list to fry up.
In my opinion, beignets are best served hot with a dusting of powdered sugar. While usually eaten during breakfast, I dressed some of my beignets by filling half with lemon curd. Yum! To do this, poke a hole in your freshly fried beignet. Then with your lemon curd in a piping bag, fill the beignet.
Making beignets is a pretty simple recipe. It is a yeasted doughnut with a special ingredient: evaporated milk. Since you may want to eat your own homemade beignets in the morning, make the dough in the night. Cover and proof the dough in the refrigerator and let it sit there overnight. This way, you only need time to roll, cut, and fry your beignets.
Now I can say "beig-net, done that" to beignets! :)
|Level:👩🏽🍳👩🏽🍳|Time: 3 hours|Serves: 4 dozen beignets|
RECIPE:
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 large eggs
1 cup evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups oil, for deep frying
1/2 cups powdered sugar
STEPS:
In a small bowl, mix the warm water, granulated sugar, and yeast. In a stand mixer with a dough attachment, beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract together. Add in 3 1/2 cups of your flour. Then pour in your yeast mixture. Finish by adding the remaining flour along with the butter. Cover your bread in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Uncover your proofed dough and divide it into quarters. Roll out one quarter so that the dough is 1/4" thick. Cut out 2" squares.
In a pot, heat 4 cups of oil until a thermometer reaches 360 degrees F. Fry three beignets at a time for one minute, until puffed and golden. Serve warm with powdered sugar!
Enjoy!
- The Bored Baker 👩🏽🍳