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Bonjour my friends, I’m Frankie and welcome to Club Foody! We all have a sweet tooth! To satisfy it, there
are so many amazing recipes out there to choose from like Chocolate Éclairs, Mille-Feuilles,
Black Forest Cake, Croquembouche, and so on. Today is Mardi Gras and to highlight the event,
I decided to not share the French version of this sweet treat but the Creole style…
In today’s episode, I’ll show you how to make my New Orleans Beignets! These fried
doughnuts are so easy to make. Served for breakfast, dessert or as a snack, these little guys are a
delicious treat. Sprinkled with powdered sugar,
your sweet craving is sure to be fulfilled. So my friends, let’s get cooking!
We’ll start by adding active dry yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer along with a cup of lukewarm
water and some honey… yeast loves sugar. We’ll give a quick stir and let it sit until the mixture
is foamy and bubbly, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, we’ll add an egg then some
evaporated milk and pure vanilla extract. We’ll beat the ingredients very well and set aside.
Now in a bigger bowl, we’ll combine 3 cups of flour, a little bit of ground cinnamon as well
as ground sea salt. We’ll whisk until nicely blended and set aside as well. All right,
back to the stand mixer... As you can see, the yeast is alive so we’ll pour in the egg mixture
and using the paddle attachment, we’ll process on medium-high speed until well incorporated.
Next, we’ll add the flour mixture, add our room temperature butter, switch the attachment to the
dough hook and process on low speed until somewhat mixed. Then we’ll increase to speed 3 and start
using the reserved ½ cup of flour by adding a tablespoon at a time until the dough clings around
the hook. Now, we’ll increase to speed 4 and knead for 4 minutes. When time is up, we should have a
nice elastic dough that doesn’t stick to our fingers and if it does slightly, it’s fine.
Like we always do after that, we’ll pull the dough under forming a ball before placing it in
a large bowl slightly greased with grapeseed oil. We’ll swirl the dough around to coat with oil,
cover with a clean dish towel and move it to a draft-free area such as an oven without the
heat on. We’ll let it rise for 2 hours or until it doubles in size – look at this… perfect! So
we’ll punch the dough to deflate it and flip it on our work surface generously floured.
We’ll do like we did earlier by pulling the dough under forming a ball then we’ll divide it by 2
using a bench scraper – I find it’s the best tool for this job but feel free to use what you prefer.
From here, we’ll form a ball with each half. Working with one at a time,
we’ll roll out the dough into a rectangle down to about ¼-inch thick. The dough will
start to retract so leave it alone and let the gluten relax for a minute or so.
After mine is rolled out, you can see it’s far from looking like a rectangle
but it’s okay because I’m using a ruler and cutting it out into one. By the way, we’re not
discarding the pieces that we’ve cut because we’ll be reusing them to make more beignets.
Now, we’ll cut the dough into 2 ½-inch squares – I prefer using a pastry cutter while others
might use a bench scraper, pizza cutter or even a knife… your choice! We’ll place the squares on
a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and set aside while we’re working with the others.
If you decide to freeze some, this is when you’re doing it by transferring the baking sheet to the
freezer. I explain more about it and the thawing process on the blog so check it out. When we have
the amount needed, we’ll move on to the stove. In a heavy bottom skillet, we’ll add canola oil
and bring the temperature to 375ºF. When it gets there, working in batches without crowding,
we’ll carefully add our dough. Now here’s why 375 instead of 350 Fahrenheit.
As soon as you add food to the hot oil, the temperature will drop drastically so by bringing
it up a little higher, you’ll get the perfect cook. All right, so we’ll fry them and as soon as
one side is golden and plump, we’ll flip them… it goes pretty fast, maybe a minute or so per side.
When they’re done, we’ll transfer them to a wire rack sitting on a baking sheet and set aside while
working with the others – don’t place them on paper towels because the bottom will get soggy.
Now it’s time to dust these hot little guys with confectioners’ sugar. We’ll take a paper bag,
the same that our mothers placed our sandwiches and apples in when we were kids – I guess we
used to call them “lunch bags” - and we’ll add a few beignets to it – don’t overcrowd
because they won’t coat properly. Then we’ll add a good scoop of sugar, close the bag
and shake it until they are all well covered. And here’s our little guys all nicely coated…
And my friends, these are our New Orleans Beignets! Light and fluffy, these little pillows
are absolutely delightful! They’re easy to make plus you can freeze some to enjoy later.
So indulge your taste buds with these puffy little doughnuts...
I hope you give it a try soon and be sure to visit clubfoody.com for ingredient amounts,
directions and more info… Until next time my friends, bon appétit!
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