How To Fry: French Quarter-Style Beignets
As soon as I saw the page titled “How to Fry” in my Grand Diplôme books, I knew this lesson would really just be an excuse to make beignets. Ever since I sat in the French Quarter late one Friday night in March, my black dress dusted with tell-tale powdered sugar, I’ve collected recipes for these airy pillows of dough. But frying isn’t a cooking technique that gets much play in my repertoire. And so the recipes sat in my delicious account gathering internet dust. That is, they languished there until Super Bowl Sunday, when suddenly I had the gumption and urge to make these. My bravery fueled by coffee, I put on my apron and dug in the cabinets for the splatter guard.
This recipe makes a lot of beignets. As in, you will certainly be tired of flipping dough balls in oil before the dough is all gone. But you should soldier on, cause who wants to waste 7 cups of bread flour? These would be great to make at a brunch party where you could hand off the frying job. What I learned about frying is that it takes no real skill. It’s just a matter of keeping a close eye out for a deepening golden color, and then flipping.
Because I’m not a regular fryer, I didn’t have a thermometer to hang on the side of the pan. This proved to be no big deal and please don’t let it stop you from trying these. I remembered the advice of a Southern friend and kept the gas at medium or medium-low. I decided the oil was hot enough to start frying when a flick of flour sizzled when it hit the surface. I didn’t crowd the pan, and if things seemed like they were getting too intensely sizzly, I dropped the heat a touch more.
All I have to say is, thank heavens for book club. If I hadn’t been able to send six women home with a grease-stained paper lunch sacks filled with these powdered sugar stomach bombs, I don’t know what might have happened. Frankly, I might not be here today.
French Quarter Style Beignets
adapted from Paula Deen
makes about 3 dozen
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup evaporated milk
7 cups bread flour
1/4 cup butter
Nonstick spray
Oil for frying
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together. Mix egg mixture to the yeast mixture. Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add the butter and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour. Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Put dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.
Add oil until it reaches about 1-inch depth in your pan. Over moderate heat, heat oil until it reaches 350 degrees F on or until a fleck of flour sizzles when it’s flicked in the oil. Add the confectioners’ sugar to a paper or plastic bag and set aside.
Roll or pat the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut into 2-inch squares. Fry, flipping constantly, until they become a golden color. After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towels, and then toss them into the bag of confectioners’ sugar. Hold bag closed and shake to coat evenly. These are infinitely better eaten while still warm, preferably with a hot cup of milky coffee.
Samantha Angela @ Bikini Birthday: Perfect timing for this recipe. I just might have to make them for Mardi Gras next week! (although I might halve the recipe)29 weeks ago
Samantha Angela, I was wondering how to halve this myself. Since there’s a packet of yeast I was little stumped, but I guess you could always just use only half the packet. Yeah, that seems pretty obvious now that I’m thinking about it.
29 weeks ago
Cristina: A nice equvalent that my Sicilian family has made for years is to take pizza dough, stretch out little bits of it and fry the same way as you would beignets, then dust with sugar, or smooth on some peanut butter or nutella. My great grandmother called it ‘buona fritta’, meaning something like ‘good fry’ in Italian. Even if it isn’t grammatically correct to call it that, it still tastes pretty darn good!29 weeks ago
Julia: Mmm, these look good. I have never tried Beignets, but they sound sooooo much more sophisticated than er, fried dough. Or even…doughnuts?
29 weeks ago
Also Sarah, if you have a freezer, you could probably freeze half the dough mixture for next time if you don’t want to make quite so many - but I’m sure your book club ladies weren’t complaining
sebastian: These were as delicious as they look! Mmmmm!29 weeks ago
Cristina, Those sound absolutely amazing! Especially with nutella — yowzas!
Julia, You know, I thought about freezing the dough but was afraid that would kill the yeast. Obviously, though, that’s silly cause I freeze pizza dough all the time. Doh!
sebastian, yeah, if my husband likes anything it’s fried things!
29 weeks ago
WannaBePinkTeri: I wanted to make Beignets for a SuperBowl party we went too…now I’m sorry I chickened out and settled for dirty rice. Ended up being the only “themed” food served at the party. I’m going to make these over the weekend to celebrat Mardi Gras right here in Colorado!29 weeks ago
Christine S.: You’ve brought back so many wonderful memories of sitting at Cafe du Monde sipping hot cocoa and eating beignets!!! My kids have relatives on their dad’s side living in New Orleans currently…for the past few years, they have spent spring break with them in NO, LA. They aren’t this year and I know they will miss their annual trip. I hate deep frying anything after a mishap with oil and neck burn as a newly wed…or, I’d make them for them…
Yours look lovely, though:)29 weeks ago
PinkPatentMaryJanes: Oh my, these look utterly delicious. Can’t say I’ve ever felt the urge to deep-fry - but these have got me hankering to heat up some oil…29 weeks ago
Sara Rose: YOU JUST HAD TO DO THIS TO ME DIDN’T YOU. UGH!!!!
Mmmmmmm beignets.
BTW- survey popups- 2 of them just came up with my stopping here. UGH.
I love beignets. Do you know my mother fills them with boozy bavarian cream? How fabu is THAT?
VERY.29 weeks ago
Ugh, sorry about the pop-ups. I’ll figure out how to get them GONE.29 weeks ago
Cordelia: These look fantastic. I would LOVE to make these but how do you get over the fear of deep-frying in a kitchen apartment?29 weeks ago
Well, what’s the worst thing that could happen? And with the oil only about an inch deep, it’s not too scary. Right?29 weeks ago
Tiffany: Holy crap. This post might have just changed my life. YUM!29 weeks ago
Katherine: Your beignets are plump and gorgeous! Definitely New Orleans-approved. Try them with a small mountain of powdered sugar on top if you’re looking for the real French Quarter experience (powdered sugar on your hands, in your hair, covering your floor, dusting your clothes).29 weeks ago
Charone: Totally awesome, Sarah. Thanks!!!28 weeks ago
Danielle: My husband and I eat very sensibly 6 days a week. Sundays is a no-holds-barred cheat day…and these were what we ate for breakfast and lunch…and will probably become dinner as well. Needless to say, it’s been a lovely day.28 weeks ago